LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


31 

H3 


From    the    Library 
of 

BISHC?  v,  :  /RGE  A.  MILLER 


IN  THE  LIGHT  OF 
CHRISTIAN  ETHICS 


By 

THOMAS  C.  HALL 

Professor  of  Christian  Ethics  in 

Union  Theological  Seminary 

New  York 


NEW  YORK:  EATON  &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI:  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
EATON  &  MAINS. 


TO 

MY  WIFE 
IN  MOST  LOVING  REMEMBRANCE 

OF 

JULY  THE  TWENTY-NINTH 
1884 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAOE 

Preface 5 

Introduction 7 

I.  The  Social  Outlook  of  Jesus 13 

II.  Paul  and  Social  Theory 22 

III.  The  Underlying  Philosophy  of  our  Examination 

of  Social  Reform 29 

IV.  What  is  Our  Social  Order? 39 

V.  Farther  Examination  of  Our  Social  Order 52 

VI.  A  Christian  Estimate  of  Our  Social  Order 62 

VII.  The  Christian  Church  and  a  Social  Program ....  73 

VIII.  The  Kingdom  Dream 84 

IX.  The  Individualistic  Emphasis   in  the  Kingdom 

Dream 97 

X.  The  Social  Emphasis  in  the  Kingdom  Dream. . .  110 
XI.  Classical  Political  Economy  and  the  Kingdom 

Dream 121 

XII.  The  Manchester  School 127 

XIII.  Individualism  in  the  United  States 137 

XIV.  The  Social  Proposals  of  Anarchy 143 

XV.  The  Individualism  of  Single  Tax 155 

XVI.  Individualism  and  Democracy 165 

XVII.  The  Social  Emphasis  and  its  Proposals 176 

XVIII.  The  Rise  of  Socialism 190 

XIX.  Marxian  Socialism 198 

XX.  State  Socialism 222 

XXI.  Types  of  Continental  Socialism 233 

XXII.  The  Kingdom  Dream  and  Social  Amelioration  . .  245 

XXIII.  Classification  of  Social  Proposals  of  Amelioration  257 

XXIV.  The  Ethics  of  Personal  Relief 268 

XXV.  Social  Amelioration  and  the  Home 282 

XXVI.  Social  Thinking  and  Education 295 

XXVII.  Social  Thinking  and  the  Workshop 310 

XXVIII.  Social  Thinking  and  Admitted  Social  Evils 322 

XXIX.  The  City  and  the  Kingdom  Dream 335 

XXX.  Political  Machinery  and  the  Kingdom 349 

XXXI.  Summary 359 

XXXII.  Selected  Bibliography 369 

3 


PEEFACE 

THESE  pages  are  especially  addressed  to  in- 
telligent and  earnest  Christian  men  and  women 
seeking  light  upon  the  social  message  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus.  The  contents  have  been 
given  to  successive  classes  of  young  men  in 
more  technical  and  academic  form  than  the 
purpose  of  this  book  permits.  The  aim  is  to 
arouse  interest  and  discussion,  and  also  to  il- 
lustrate what  seems  to  the  writer  should  be  the 
Christian  adult 's  way  of  looking  at  life.  Those 
who  are  not  professedly  Christian  may  be  in- 
terested in  seeing  what  a  modern  Christian 
intelligence  would  wish  put  in  the  foreground 
of  the  Christian  message.  The  treatment  has 
been  kept  as  simple  and  as  untechnical  as  pos- 
sible. And  every  effort  has  been  made  by  the 
writer  to  do  justice  to  the  various  proposals  he 
reviews.  He  has  not  been  content  at  any  point 
with  merely  secondhand  sources  of  information. 
Some  little  repetition  has  not  been  avoided,  and 
could  not  easily  be  avoided.  May  the  book 
help  to  light  the  fires  of  social  enthusiasm  that 
are  to  show  the  way  to  God's  kingdom  upon 
earth ! 


INTRODUCTION 

IT  is  not  as  a  specialist  in  political  economy 
or  social  science  that  the  average  Christian 
citizen  must  face  important  decisions  in  the 
conduct  of  communal  affairs.  Nor  can  he 
wholly  rely  upon  the  advice  of  specialists.  Not 
only  are  they  often  wrong ;  but  differing  among 
themselves  he  must  decide  between  the  spe- 
cialists. Moreover,  they  many  times  cannot 
share  the  Christian  interest  or  see  things  from 
our  point  of  view.  So  far  as  we  are  Christians 
we  should  have  our  distinct  vantage  ground, 
and  it  is  highly  desirable  that  decisions  be 
reached  in  the  light  of  considerations  from  all 
quarters.  It  is  quite  generally  assumed  that 
self-interest  sees  clearly  what  is  best  for  itself. 
This,  however,  is  very  far  from  being  the  case. 
The  highest  self-interest  is  often  forgotten  al- 
together. Self-interest  blinds  men  as  well  as  it 
illumines  them.  It  is  often  exceedingly  short- 
sighted. Yet  it  must  ever  enter  into  our  calcu- 
lations. Generally  a  man  or  a  community  is  the 
best  judge  of  the  real  interest  of  that  man  or 
that  community. 

The  average  man  is  not  an  expert  in  ethical 
discussion.  Yet  here  again  he  must  pass  judg- 
ment upon  the  most  intricate  and  complicated 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION 

ethical  questions.  Nor  can  he  here  call  upon 
the  specialist  to  decide  for  him.  A  decision  that 
is  made  for  us  is  not  our  moral  decision.  To  be 
moral  it  must  be  directly  or  indirectly  our  own. 

Particularly  the  Christian  citizen  has  an  ex- 
tremely delicate  and  difficult  task  before  him. 
He  is  living  in  a  community  that  calls  itself 
Christian  but  is  not  even  confessedly  organized 
upon  the  basis  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  We  are, 
however,  only  really  Christian  in  so  far  as  we 
share  the  kingdom  purpose  of  Jesus  Christ. 
We  must  live  and  die  for  what  he  lived  and  died 
for. 

Just  at  this  point,  however,  arise  many  ques- 
tions. What  is  the  kingdom  of  God?  What 
measures  will  bring  it  in  I  How  is  Jesus 's 
thought  of  it  to  be  fitted  into  our  modern 
world?  How  definite  is  our  conception  of  it? 

The  proposed  social  solutions  that  claim  our 
attention  promise  more  or  less  the  fulfillment 
of  our  hope  for  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth, 
but  are  they  practical?  are  they  sufficient?  are 
they  in  line  with  the  actual  movement  of  his- 
tory? 

To  attempt  an  intelligent  answer  to  these 
questions  some  knowledge  must  be  had  of  the 
proposed  social  solutions.  They  must  be  object- 
ively examined,  their  claims  considered,  and 
then  this  criticism  may  take  the  form  of  scien- 
tific criticism  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 


INTRODUCTION  9 

political  economist,  or  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  ethical  man. 

This  later  viewing  point  is  the  one  we  take. 
Making  no  pretense  to  more  than  amateur 
knowledge  of  political  economy,  and  only  deal- 
ing with  it  as  it  is  forced  upon  our  attention, 
we  will  attempt  a  survey  of  proposed  social 
solutions  and  try  to  weigh  them  in  the  balance 
of  a  Christian  ethical  hope.  We  frankly  ask 
these  proposed  reforms,  What  do  you  promise 
us  as  members  in  the  future  kingdom  of 
God? 

In  such  an  examination  we  hope  to  be  help- 
ful, first,  because  we  have  gone  to  the  actual 
sources,  examining  not  what  men  say  Henry 
George  taught  or  Karl  Marx  believed,  but  what 
they  themselves  actually  wrote;  and,  secondly, 
by  subjecting  the  proposals  to  the  simplest  tests 
of  the  kingdom  purpose,  in  the  light  of  an 
ethical  interpretation  of  that  purpose. 

It  is  assumed  throughout  that  the  life  and 
purpose  of  Jesus  is  not  only  authoritative  for 
us,  but  is  our  highest  authority.  We  do  not 
attempt  to  prove  this.  That  lies  in  the  field  of 
apologetics  and  defense  of  the  Christian  faith. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  set  forth  no  dogmatic 
system  as  belonging  to  the  essence  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  for  history  has  abundantly  proved 
that  Christian  faith  of  the  highest  order  and 
most  effective  energy  has  linked  itself  with 


10  INTRODUCTION 

very  different  and  mutually  exclusive  dogmatic 
systems. 

In  the  same  way  we  assume  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  but  it  is  the  Scriptures  as  historically 
understood  and  critically  interpreted.  We 
have  in  them  not  legal  canons,  nor  yet  the- 
ological treatises,  but  inspired  and  inspiring  in- 
terpretations of  life  from  the  point  of  view  of 
religion. 

It  is  useless  to  go  to  Paul  to  find  out  whether 
railroads  should  be  owned  by  the  community 
or  by  individuals;  and  John's  Gospel  will  give 
us  no  light  upon  the  expediency  of  local  op- 
tion. Our  moral  education  would  not  be  helped 
but  hindered  by  a  final  divine  answer  to  such 
questions.  We  become  moral  men  by  apply- 
ing our  acquired  ethical  experience  to  new 
problems.  And  as  Paul  grew  into  the  stature 
of  Jesus  Christ  by  trying  to  make  the  life  of 
the  risen  Christ  a  key  to  the  moral  problems 
of  Asia  Minor,  so  we  are  to  reach  divine  ma- 
turity trying  to  transform  an  age  of  steam  and 
electricity  into  the  age  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  Church  of  the  living  God  has  a  serious 
responsibility.  What  are  we  doing  to  make 
men  citizens  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth? 
Men  cannot  be  children  of  the  kingdom  purpose 
one  day  in  the  week,  and  beasts  of  prey,  each 
seeking  his  own,  the  other  six  days.  Men  can- 
not live  for  ecclesiastical  purposes  in  holy 


INTRODUCTION  11 

fellowship  and  brotherly  cooperation  on  Sun- 
day, and  fly  at  one  another's  property  in  com- 
petitive struggle  to  the  business  death  of  the 
weaker  on  Monday.  The  unreality  of  much 
preaching  is  now  dawning  on  many  minds  both 
in  pew  and  pulpit.  The  reasonable  man  does 
not  expect  the  pulpit  to  guide  him  in  the  details 
of  his  business  or  his  politics.  We  are  adult 
men  and  women  and  would  and  should  resent 
interference  with  our  moral  autonomy.  We  do, 
however,  ask  that  the  Christian  pulpit  stand 
for  definite,  clear-cut  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciples, which  will  enable  us  to  organize  the 
details  of  our  life  to  conform  to  the  hope  of 
Jesus 's  heart. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  Christian  life  is  en- 
dangered by  being  confused  with  answers  to 
all  sorts  of  interesting  but  relatively  indifferent 
questions,  like  infant  and  adult  baptism,  the 
exact  significance  of  the  Lord's  supper,  the 
meaning  of  the  atonement,  etc.,  all  of  which  are 
important  questions,  but  which  experience  has 
shown  are  not  fundamental,  since  high  Chris- 
tian character  has  rested  on  different  answers ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Christian  life 
be  made  so  vague,  sentimental,  and  indefinite 
that  it  ceases  to  define  anything  or  anybody, 
and  loses  all  real  regenerative  life-giving  char- 
acter. 

This  work  will  try  to  make  clear  and  definite 


12  INTRODUCTION 

the  issue  between  the  really  radical  reconstruc- 
tion of  human  life  demanded  by  the  kingdom 
purpose,  and  the  patching  up  of  an  existent 
order  with  no  real  faith  in  a  completely  divine- 
human  life  here  on  earth.  True  faith  involves 
a  hope  of  root-and-branch  regeneration  of  so- 
ciety, from  the  lower  animal  to  the  divine  moral 
life.  Life  is  to  be  made  again  ''religious," 
bound  together  as  a  family  of  God  in  the  bonds 
of  redeeming,  self-sacrificing,  and  therefore 
self -saving  love. 

The  ultimate  foundation  for  this  hope  of  a 
perfect  Godlike  life  on  earth  is  our  faith  in 
God's  Fatherhood  because  we  have  seen  God 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  and  through  him  have 
been  brought  into  fellowship  with  God  as  his 
coworkers. 

The  various  chapters  divide  themselves 
readily  into  three  groups :  those  dealing  with  a 
transformation  of  society  with  the  emphasis 
upon  the  individual;  those  dealing  with  an 
equally  radical  transformation  of  society  with 
the  emphasis  upon  the  group ;  then  follow  chap- 
ters upon  schemes  for  social  amelioration  with- 
out radical  departure  from  the  present  social 
order.  Preliminary  to  this  discussion  we  must 
ask  ourselves,  What  was  the  ethical  outlook  of 
Jesus  and  of  Paul,  and  what  really  constitutes 
the  modern  Christian  man's  dream  of  the  king- 
dom and  our  modern  philosophic  outlook? 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  OF  JESUS 

JESUS  's  teachings  gain  vividness  and  reality 
when  we  consider  them  in  the  light  of  what  we 
know  of  the  life  of  his  day  and  the  circum- 
stances of  his  history.  He  seems  to  have  been 
an  oldest  son  in  a  large  family,  and,  if  tradi- 
tion be  correct,  the  support  of  a  widowed 
mother.1  The  whole  world  of  Jesus 's  day  was 
desperately  poor.  The  glory  of  Borne  and 
Athens  was  only  comparative,  and  the  few  lived 
in  what  we  would  scarcely  call  comfort  and  the 
many  hovered  half-fed  on  the  borderland  of 
starvation.  War,  famine,  disease,  neglected 
motherhood  and  impoverished  infancy  kept 
down  population,  and  in  general  only  sound 
physique  could  withstand  the  strain.  Taxation 
was  shortsighted  and  inequitable,  justice  was 
roughly  administered  and  cruel,  the  tyranny  of 
the  strong  was  held  in  check  only  by  traditional 
restraint  and  by  fear  of  secret  violence. 

1  The  supposition  of  Cheyne  (Ency.  Bib.,  art.  "Joseph")  that 
•we  know  nothing  of  Joseph  is  surely  overdrawn  criticism.  Apart 
from  the  mention  of  Joseph  in  the  narratives  of  the  infancy,  we 
have  the  reference  in  Luke  4.  22  and  the  two  references  in  John 
1.  45  and  6.  42,  and  in  Matt.  13.  55  Jesus  was  called  "the  son  of 
the  builder"  (6  rov  r^/crovof  vl6g).  At  the  same  time  he  plays 
little  part,  and  had  died  before  the  crucifixion  (John  19.  25-27). 

13 


14  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Jesus  came  from  the  poorer  fishing  peasants 
of  northern  Palestine.  His  reputed  father 
Joseph  was  a  peasant  housebuilder,1  who 
seems,  if  our  supposition  is  correct,  to  have 
died  early  and  left,  perhaps,  the  support  of  the 
family  upon  the  young  shoulders  of  the  eldest 
boy.  Hence  ideal  fatherhood  had  a  meaning  for 
Jesus  which  was  born  of  his  experience,  and 
he  thought  constantly  of  God  in  terms  of  that 
fatherhood  whose  protecting  earthly  care  he 
had  so  early  lost.  This  would  account  for  the 
relatively  late  and  short  public  ministry  of 
Jesus.  He  was  not  free  until  his  brothers  and 
sisters  were  on  the  way  to  self-support  and 
could  maintain  the  mother. 

This  is  important  as  giving  a  clue  to  Jesus 's 
thought  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  human 
brotherhood  is  to  be  like  an  ideally  organized 
family.  The  love  that  holds  an  ideal  family 
together  is  the  social  bond.  We  are  to  do  to 
each  other  as  loving  members  of  one  family 
would  have  men  do  to  them.  God's  fatherly 
forgiveness  is  our  model  for  forgiving  freely 
those  who  have  offended  us.  Jesus  had  no 
sharp-cut  theory  about  the  rights  of  property. 


1  Ernest  Crosby  has  endeavored  to  show  that  the  tradition 
that  he  was  a  carpenter  is  contradicted  by  the  imagery  of  Jesus's 
teaching.  He  thinks  of  him  as  a  farming  peasant.  But  the  two 
descriptions  do  not  exclude  one  another.  Each  village  had  its 
workman,  who  in  addition  to  tilling  his  field  was  the  "builder" 
or  "smith"  to  his  community. 


SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  OF  JESUS  15 

The  family  commission  of  a  well-ordered  and 
loving  family  group  includes,  indeed,  private 
possession,  but  always  subject  to  the  demands 
of  love,  and  chiefly  valuable  as  affording  op- 
portunity for  loving  helpfulness. 

The  scattered  sayings  of  Jesus  are  gathered 
together  and  built  into  a  "constitution  of  the 
kingdom"  by  Matthew,1  in  what  we  know  as 
the  "Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  and  here  the 
ethics  are  those  of  a  loving  family.  The  ideal 
of  life  is  service  and  helpfulness.  Our  joy  is  to 
do  the  will  of  the  Father  and  to  finish  his  work. 
The  state  as  such  hardly  enters  the  thought  of 
Jesus.  Kings  and  other  great  people  figure  in 
his  parables  and  poetry  much  as  princes  and 
kings  do  in  Grimm's  German  stories.  Of  po- 
litical economy  as  a  science  of  production  and 
distribution  of  goods  Jesus,  of  course,  had  not 
the  remotest  idea.  Political  ideals  had  no  place 
in  his  conception  of  life.  From  political  power 
even  as  a  means  for  accomplishing  his  purposes 
he  deliberately  turns  away,  as  is  seen  not  only 
in  the  temptation  drama,  but  in  his  refusal  of 
Messianic  kingship  at  the  hands  of  the  Galilean 
zealots. 

The  tyranny  of  Caesar  was  an  order  in  which 
men  lived  and  to  which  they  were  bound  to 
submit  until  the  Messianic  kingdom  should 

1  Compare  author's  "Messages  of  Jesus,"  pp.  110-126  (New 
York). 


16  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

come.  Caesar  had  his  own,  and  God  had  his, 
and  the  latent  opposition  awaits  God's  time 
for  historic  manifestation.  The  Jewish  apoca- 
lyptic hopes  were,  to  say  the  least,  not  disre- 
garded by  Jesus,  nor  were  they  completely 
subordinated  to  his  main  ethical  postulate  of 
the  family  relationship  as  including  even  our 
enemy  and  the  oppressor.  At  the  same  time 
they  had  only  religious  and  ethical  interest  for 
Jesus. 

Jesus 's  conception  of  national  place  was 
rather  of  national  responsibility.  He  here  fol- 
lows and  enlarges  the  thought  of  the  great 
eighth  century  prophets.  The  house  of  Israel 
is  God's  means  to  the  divine  end.1  The  method 
of  establishing  God's  kingdom  is  by  proclama- 
tion. Thus  Jesus  has  almost  no  place  for  a 
political  state.  The  relations  of  the  Jews  to 
successive  political  states,  Assyria,  Babylon, 
Persia,  Greece,  and  Borne,  had  stamped  upon 
their  mind  the  essential  evil  of  political  states, 
and  the  kingdom  of  God  could  only  come  as 
Daniel  had  predicted,  in  the  fall  and  ruin  of 


1  The  seeming  slur  on   outside  nations  in    the  little  poem 
Matt.  7.  6, 

"Give  not  that  which  is  holy  to  dogs, 
Cast  not  your  pearls  before  swine, 
Lest  they  trample  them  under  their  feet, 
And  turning  then  also  rend  you," 

must  be  taken  as  a  warning  against  loveless  preaching  to  those 
we  look  upon  as  "  dogs."  See  author's  "Messages  of  the  Synop- 
tics," p.  123. 


SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  OF  JESUS  17 

all  hostile  political  states.  Thus  the  early 
Christian  Church  was  born  in  an  atmosphere 
of  passive  resistance  and  latent  rebellion 
against  the  existing  Koman  order.  And  yet 
this  order  was  not  to  be  and  could  not  be  suc- 
cessfully assailed  with  the  sword.  He  who  did 
thus  assail  it  died  by  the  sword.  Taxes  were 
to  be  paid,  although  under  a  sort  of  protest.1 
Even  the  temple  tax  grated  upon  the  feelings 
of  Jesus.  He  felt  that  "sons"  should  not  be 
forced  to  pay  tribute.2  All  loveless  coercion 
was  abhorrent  to  his  spirit.  The  kings  and 
rulers  did  all  sorts  of  things,  but  the  normal 
spiritual  man  had  one  simple  principle  to  guide 
him,  namely,  love  to  God  and  his  fellow  men. 
Nothing  was  farther  away  from  the  thought  of 
Jesus  than  the  whole  apparatus  of  natural 
rights  which  underlay  the  splendid  stoic  theory 
of  man's  relation  to  the  state.  Jesus  had  no 
quarrel  with  law  as  law,  for  unlike  Paul  he 
had  had  no  experience  of  the  crushing  burden 
of  obedience  through  fear.  He  grew  up  "going 
about  his  Father's  business."  He  simply  had 
no  special  interest  in  the  state.  The  kingdom 
of  God  would  soon  come  and  make  all  states, 
pomps,  rulers,  etc.,  unnecessary.  In  that  king- 
dom our  relation  to  God  would  be  that  of  lov- 
ing, well-ordered  children,  and  our  relation  to 

1  Compare  Luke  20.  19-26  with  the  charge  at  his  trial,  Luke 
23.  1-3.  2  Matt.  17.  25. 


18  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

one  another  that  of  loving  members  of  one 
family,  caring  for  each  other  as  a  man  cares 
for  his  own. 

The  tremendously  radical  character  of  such 
teaching  has  hardly  dawned  upon  us  yet.  Its 
implications  would  revolutionize  conduct  and 
belief  at  almost  every  point.  The  cheerful, 
steady  proclamation  of  this  cardinal  fact  of 
life  by  Jesus,  in  the  face  of  all  doubt,  scorn,  and 
opposition,  as  the  one  rational  principle  of  life 
marks  the  uniqueness  of  the  teacher  in  history. 

At  the  same  time  Jesus  did  not  work  out  his 
principle  in  a  social  theory  or  a  political  plat- 
form. Had  he  done  so  it  would  simply  have 
meant  that  such  a  theory  would  be  useless  in 
our  steam-driven,  electric-lit  age,  or  that  it 
would  have  effectively  hampered  all  progress. 
It  is  each  age's  most  delicate  task  to  adjust  the 
acquired  ethical  wisdom  of  the  past  to  the  con- 
tinually changing  conditions  of  our  lives.  And 
therein  consists  the  moral  education  of  children 
of  God. 

The  extreme  nationalism  of  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple was  bound  up  with  one  of  their  most  ad- 
mirable characteristics,  namely,  the  sense  of 
group  solidarity.  The  disintegrating  influence 
of  the  cosmopolitanism  which  had  been  the  fate 
of  the  Jewish  people  was  offset  by  intense 
family  feeling.  Into  this  Jesus  entered  and  by 
his  emphasis  upon  monogamy  he  gave  a  firm 


SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  OF  JESUS  19 

foundation  upon  which  to  build  a  group  life. 
His  relations  with  women  and  his  conception 
of  womanhood  were  Jewish  and  not  Oriental. 
They  were  untainted  by  the  slave  atmosphere 
which  corrupted  the  ideals  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  for  Galilean  peasants  did  not  hold 
slaves.  Sins  against  the  family  were  equally 
sins  whether  committed  by  man  or  woman,  but 
the  woman  was  not  more  severely  judged  than 
the  man,1  and  his  intercourse  with  women  was 
the  simple  free  contact  of  humble  village  life. 

Above  all,  Jesus  made  contact  with  God  de- 
pendent upon  doing  his  will.  The  kingdom  was 
to  come,  and  it  was  doing  the  will  of  God  on 
earth.  The  fatherly  care  of  the  sparrow  and 
the  very  hairs  of  our  head  gave  assurance  that 
the  doing  of  that  will  would  insure  peace,  pros- 
perity, and  rest  to  the  weary  and  heavy  laden. 
Jesus  had  no  philosophy  in  the  Greek  sense 
of  that  word.  It  is  inaccurate  to  class  his  ethics 
as  eudaemonistic  or  categorical.  He  had  only 
the  deep  and  abiding  faith  that  the  love  of  God 
guarded  the  happiness  of  his  children,  and  that 
to  do  God's  will  was  the  best  road  to  happiness. 
The  "reward"  was  indeed  always  linked  with 
the  action.  At  the  same  time  the  sinner's  "re- 
ward" was  not  the  same  as  the  promised  re- 


1  This  is  the  deep  underlying  significance  of  the  tradition  in 
John  7.  53 — 8.  11,  which  so  offended  a  hellenistic  world  that  it 
was  often  excluded  from  the  Gospel. 


20  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ward  of  the  Father.  It  was  a  reward  because 
it  was  the  reward  of  "the  Father,"  and  again 
we  must  think  ourselves  back  into  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  well-ordered  family  where  obe- 
dience has  its  "reward,"  but  not  in  pounds, 
shillings,  and  pence. 

This  thought  of  Jesus  is  therefore  connected 
with  his  soul's  desire  to  "show  the  Father"  to 
the  hungry  men  and  women  of  his  day.  What 
obscures  God  is  the  world's  disorder,  its  an- 
archy, selfishness,  pride,  greed,  uncleanness,  its 
tyranny  and  baseness,  its  fierce  struggle  for 
what  God  gives  all  freely  if  we  would  not  push 
each  other  so.  The  care  for  the  morrow  be* 
comes  bitter  and  weakening  anxiety,  whereas 
in  the  kingdom  of  God's  love  he  knows  what  we 
have  need  of,  and  faith  trusts  him.  This  God- 
conscious  life  is  strong  even  on  the  mount  of 
temptation  or  in  the  bitterness  of  Gethsemane. 

The  view  of  the  world  that  was  common  in 
his  day  Jesus,  no  doubt,  held.  It  would  have 
cut  him  off  from  his  generation,  and  so  from 
all  generations,  had  he  entered  the  ancient 
world  with  a  modern  outlook.  At  the  same 
time  it  was  the  Old  Testament  conception  of 
that  world,  as  that  conception  had  grown  and 
developed  among  the  prophets  and  sages.  And 
their  interest  in  it  had  always  been  religious 
and  ethical.  The  Babylonian  stories  of  crea- 
tion and  primitive  sacrifice  and  priesthood  had 


SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  OF  JESUS  21 

passed  through  divine  and  purifying  processes ; 
they  had  been  spiritualized  and  moralized  into 
the  loftiest  revelation  of  a  personal  monotheism 
God  had  as  yet  granted  his  world.  This  was  the 
atmosphere  of  Jesus 's  outlook  upon  life,  and  in 
free,  sinless,  loving  sonship  he  had  a  sense  of 
full  communion  and  fellowship  with  his  Father. 
The  great  interpretation  of  God  to  the  world 
in  the  loving  life  and  sacrificial  death  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  primary  fact  of  our  Christian 
faith;  and  on  the  basis  of  that  vision  of  God 
we  must  believe  that  the  kingdom  or  reign  of 
that  Father  is  assured,  and  that  our  noblest 
life  and  sweetest  service  is  the  speedy  estab- 
lishment of  that  kingdom  of  love  and  fellow- 
ship. 


CHAPTER  II 
PAUL  AND  SOCIAL,  THEOBY 

IT  must  be  quite  evident  to  anyone  reading 
Paul  that  he  looked  out  on  life  at  a  different 
angle  from  Jesus.  We  know  of  no  such  crisis 
in  the  life  of  Jesus  as  gave  character  to  the 
whole  of  Paul's  thinking.  Paul  felt  himself 
a  bondslave  to  the  law,  and  found  freedom. 
Jesus  grew  up  in  the  sunshine  of  divine  sonship 
from  the  beginning. 

On  the  other  hand,  Jesus  was  a  simple  Gali- 
lean rabbi.  Paul  was  a  highly  educated  Jewish 
scribe  and  a  proud  Eoman  citizen.  Jesus  came 
calling  Judaism  to  enter  upon  the  Messianic 
life,  and  only  when  Judaism  refused  did  he  turn 
to  the  little  group  to  whom  the  Father  had 
given  the  kingdom.  Paul  also  hoped  for  the 
return  of  Judaism,  but  only  after  the  fullness 
of  the  nations  had  come.  Hence  for  Paul  the 
church  group  takes  the  place  in  his  thought 
that  is  occupied  by  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus. 

And  before  Paul  had  gone  very  far  in  his 
organizing  work  he  was  faced  by  questions 
Jesus  had  hardly  at  all  to  deal  with.  What  was 

the  relation  of  this  international  church  to  the 

22 


PAUL  AND  SOCIAL  THEORY  23 

Roman  empire?  The  thirteenth  chapter  of 
Paul 's  letter  to  the  Romans  gives  us  his  clearest 
answer.  Paul  was  not  antagonized  by  the 
Jewish  church  on  account  of  his  theology.  He 
was  no  theological  " heretic."  He  was  called  in 
question  for  preaching  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  and  upsetting  the  law.  It  is  this  later 
charge  he  replies  to  in  Romans.  Paul  is  not 
there  setting  forth  theology,  but  ethics.  He  was 
accused  of  breaking  down  the  morality  of  Juda- 
ism and  of  being  an  anarchist,  a  destroyer  of 
the  family  and  being  antinomian.  And  Ro- 
mans is  his  defense  against  this  charge. 

In  the  closing  chapters  he  gives  the  first 
systematic  presentation  of  a  Christian  ethics 
which  we  possess.  For  it  is  probably  older 
than  the  account  of  the  kingdom  in  Matthew's 
Gospel.  And  in  this  connection  Paul  deals  with 
the  Roman  state.  He  sees  in  it,  not  indeed  the 
kingdom,  but  a  providential  means  for  the 
maintenance  of  order,  and  therefore  "ordained 
of  God. ' '  Resistance  to  it  must  be  legal  resist- 
ance, so  Paul  himself  appealed  to  Caesar,  and 
defended  his  status  as  Roman  citizen.  What 
he  admits  also  is  that  the  fundamental  purpose 
of  the  ruler  is  ethical,  and  therefore  not  to  be 
despised.  Of  course,  Paul  put  obedience  to 
God  before  obedience  to  men,  hence  finally  and 
in  the  essence  of  the  thing  government  can 
claim  our  respect  and  loyalty  only  in  so 


24  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

far  as  its  agents  are  ''ministers  of  God's'*  di- 
vine order. 

What  Paul,  therefore,  defends  is  rather  what 
the  Eoman  empire  should  have  been  than  what 
it  was.  He  also,  like  Jesus,  saw  the  uselessness 
of  physical  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Chris- 
tian group,  save  only  as  that  resistance  was 
passive;  and  for  two  good  reasons:  first,  the 
church  was  too  small  and  weak  to  resist,  and, 
secondly,  it  was  vain  since  the  coming  of  Jesus 
in  power  and  glory  was  not  far  off.  Then  God 
would  himself  judge  the  earth. 

Paul  did  not  know  the  times  and  seasons, 
and  did  not  pretend  to  know  them  any  more 
than  Jesus  did,  but  he  cherished  the  hope  that 
he  would  see  the  establishment  of  the  reign 
of  God  in  his  own  lifetime. 

The  attitude  of  Jesus  and  of  Paul  should, 
surely,  be  substantially  our  attitude  toward 
existing  governments.  Whether  we  live  in 
China,  Turkey,  or  America  the  government  is 
a  providential  means  of  order  to  which  we  can 
and  should  resort,  and  to  which,  subject  to  con- 
science, we  yield  obedience.  Yet,  we  must  also 
confess  that  neither  America,  England,  nor 
Germany,  nor  any  existing  government,  is 
really  Christ's  kingdom.  All  are  built  upon 
force.  In  none  of  them  is  God's  will  done  as  in 
heaven.  In  all  of  them  intemperance,  prostitu- 
tion, violence,  and  corruption  mark  the  char- 


PAUL  AND  SOCIAL  THEORY  25 

acter  of  the  social  order,  even  if  in  less  degree 
than  in  ancient  Borne. 

The  teachings  of  Jesus  to-day  are  still  revo- 
lutionary. We  could  not  make  Matthew's  con- 
stitution of  the  kingdom  (Sermon  on  the 
Mount)  the  statute  law  of  the  United  States 
without  an  entire  change  in  our  government, 
both  in  its  purpose  and  machinery. 

Yet  we  want,  as  Christians,  to  make  that 
constitution  the  law  of  all  human  life.  That  is 
just  why  we  believe  in  regeneration,  a  rebirth 
of  human  life  into  the  image  of  God,  and  the 
as  badly  in  Tiep-^  of  rfig-e.n.firation  as  the 


individual.  We  demand  of  the  individual  l  '  con- 
version, '  '  and  by  that  we  mean  an  entire  change 
in  the  man's  purpose,  a  complete  devotion  of 
his  will  to  God's  will.  Not  less  are  we  working 
to  the  "conversion"  of  the  state,  and  an  entire 
devotion  of  the  corporate  life  to  the  life  of  God. 
War  must  cease,  love  must  reign.  All  loveless 
coercion  must  pass  away,  and  the  family  re- 
lationship dominate  all  life.  All  state  com- 
plicity in  the  intemperance,  prostitution,  and 
violence  must  cease.  And  it  must  cease  from 
within.  The  government  must  become  the  ex- 
pression of  God's  love  shed  abroad  in  our 
streets,  market  places,  and  places  of  amuse- 
ment. That  at  least  is  the  dream  of  Christ, 
and  for  that  purpose  Paul  organized  the  infant 
church. 


26  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Beyond  this  neither  Jesus  nor  Paul  gave  us 
social  theory.  They  would  not  have  been  use- 
fully employed  had  they  done  so.  Perhaps 
we  are  not  primarily  called  upon  to  supply 
social  theory  to  the  community.  We,  too,  may 
feel  that  all  we  can  do  is  to  impart  enthusiasm 
for  the  kingdom  purpose  to  men  who  are  better 
able  to  supply  the  theory  of  social  reconstruc- 
tion. Each  man  must  be  sure  in  his  own  mind, 
and  upon  the  firm  foundation  of  God's  love  as 
incarnated  in  the  life  and  purpose  of  Jesus 
Christ  each  one  is  building,  some  straw,  some 
wood,  some  stone.  And  each  man's  building 
will  be  tried  by  fire. 

Paul  and  the  apostles  dealt  with  their  situa- 
tion. We  must  deal  with  ours.  We  cannot  go 
to  them  for  any  help  in  the  details  of  our  strug- 
gle for  social  justice,  but  we  can  go  to  them  for 
fundamental  principles  governing  life,  and  for 
inspiration  in  the  struggle  to  realize  in  life  the 
will  of  God.  And  this  work  is  a  work  of  divine 
faith.  We  cannot  "know"  that  the  kingdom  is 
coming  from  history  or  science  or  political 
economy.  Philosophy  may  leave  us  convinced 
optimists  or  fully  persuaded  pessimists.  Our 
faith  in  God  and  our  sonship  is,  in  the  last 
analysis,  our  only  ground  of  hope.  Because  we 
believe  that  God  is  our  Father  and  that  we  have 
seen  that  fact  in  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  we  also  believe  that  this  is  God's  world 


PAUL  AND  SOCIAL  THEORY  27 

and  that  its  misery,  injustice,  greed,  violence, 
savagery,  and  pollution  are  yet  to  pass  away, 
and  that  joy,  peace,  love,  brotherhood,  and 
eternal  life  are  to  yet  justify  completely  the 
faith  we  have  in  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  must  be,  however,  intelligent  citizens  of 
our  country  as  well  as  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
When  men  ask  us  to  help  them  sustain  free 
trade  or  protection,  to  vote  for  prohibition  or 
local  option,  to  work  for  or  against  woman's 
suffrage,  we  dare  not  simply  say,  "What  is 
there  in  it  for  me  and  my  family?"  We  must 
ask,  "How  do  these  things  relate  themselves 
to  the  kingdom  of  God?"  WTiere  would  Jesus 
and  Paul  have  stood  had  their  problems  then 
been  the  same  as  ours  I  Neither  Jesus  nor  Paul 
had  to  decide  between  the  claims  of  philo- 
sophical anarchy  and  Marxian  socialism.  We 
must,  often,  however,  either  give  a  reason  for 
the  faith  that  is  in  us  or  discredit  the  kingdom 
in  which  we  as  Christians  claim  citizenship. 

Nor  is  it  an  easy  task  that  is  before  us. 
Were  we  members  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  com- 
munion we  could  try  to  find  out  what  the  Church 
teaches,  although  that  is  not  easy  either,  and 
then  submit  ourselves  to  the  judgment  of 
"Mother  Church."  But  as  Protestants  it  is 
our  glory  and  our  heavy  responsibility  that  we 
must  always  in  the  last  analysis  answer  only 


28  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

to  God  for  our  decisions.  We  may  get,  and 
should  get,  all  the  help  we  can;  but  at  last  we 
are  alone  with  God,  and  he  says  to  us, '  *  Sons, ' ' 
and  asks  us  what  now  we  are  going  to  do. 
Thus  in  his  wisdom  he  educates  us  to  fitness  for 
companionship,  adult  companionship,  with  him. 
This  is  no  light  task.  We  must  learn  not  only 
the  principles  of  the  kingdom  but  how  to  apply 
them. 


CHAPTER  HI 

THE  UNDERLYING  PHILOSOPHY  OP  OTJE  EXAMINA- 
TION OF  SOCIAL  REFORM 

OUB  knowledge  of  life  always  starts  either 
with  ourselves  as  the  knowing  subjects  or  with 
the  "outside"  world  as  the  thing  known.  Yet 
in  point  of  fact  we  have  no  "outside  world" 
that  has  not  passed  through  our  brain  before 
we  know  it.  If  our  brain  is  diseased  that ' '  out- 
side world"  is  distorted  and  fantastic.  When, 
however,  the  brain  is  what  we  call  normal  our 
knowledge  enables  us  to  act  on  our  outside 
world  with  advantage  to  ourselves,  and  in  the 
way  other  "normal"  people  act.  If  I  am  color 
blind,  for  instance,  the  only  way  I  can  find  it 
out  is  by  the  experience  of  my  eyes  acting  on 
colors  which  other  people  call  red  and  put  with 
reds,  while  I  call  red  green  and  put  it  with 
greens.  Now,  I  may  be  right,  but  a  railroad 
company  runs  its  trains  on  the  other  theory, 
so  I  am  "abnormal"  and  do  not  get  a  situation 
on  that  line. 

Did  we  all  start  new  from  God's  hand  life 
would  be  far  too  short  for  us  to  accumulate  the 
experience  we  need  to  deal  successfully  with 
the  "outside  world,"  or  even  with  our  own 

29 


30  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

thoughts.  But  no  one  does  start  in  that  way. 
We  enter  life  with  the  brain  tissue  stored  with 
the  results  of  thousands  and  thousands  of 
generations  of  like  experimenters  with  our- 
selves. The  little  babe  in  the  mother's  arms  is 
a  bundle  of  inherited  memories.  The  very 
handwriting  of  past  generations  will  reveal 
itself  in  the  childish  copy  book.  No  man  liveth 
to  himself,  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself ;  we  are 
bound  up  in  closest  bonds  with  the  past  and 
the  future.  The  nervous  organization  of  any 
one  of  us  is  our  tool  handed  to  us  sharpened 
or  blunted  by  the  experiences  of  the  genera- 
tions before  us. 

Our  knowledge,  then,  is  a  social  reaction 
upon  the  "outside  world."  But  what  we  call 
the  ''outside  world"  is  after  all  our  own  defi- 
nite construction.  I  can  think  of  myself;  if  I 
am  sick  I  can  put  drugs  into  my  body  and 
treat  it  as  part  of  the  "outside"  world.  I  can 
do  the  same  with  my  mind.  If  my  memory  is 
poor  I  can  go  to  work  and  exercise  it  and  train 
it  as  I  do  my  dog.  So  with  even  my  will  or 
feelings.  I  can  educate  them  as  I  do  my  chil- 
dren. What,  then,  is  this  "I,"  and  what  is 
outside  of  this  "I"?  If  I  am  an  American  I 
feel  my  country  is  my  larger  self;  if  I  have 
family  they  are  a  part  and  the  dearest  part  of 
"me."  And  this  is  not  simply  figure  of 
speech.  In  our  real  life  it  is  often  impossible 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  OUR  EXAMINATION         31 

for  us  to  distinguish  between  the  "I"  and  the 
world  outside  the  "I."  So  far  as  we  do  make 
the  distinction  it  is  that  the  "I"  acts  with 
purpose  upon  an  "outside  world."  "We" 
start  to  do  things  which  until  they  are  done 
are,  so  far  as  we  know,  only  creations  of  our 
brain.  The  essence  of  our  "we-ness"  is  pur- 
pose. In  the  courtroom  this  is  rudely  admit- 
ted, and  if  I  kill  a  man  the  judge  and  jury  try 
to  find  out  whether  I  purposed  to  do  it,  and 
measure  my  responsibility  by  my  fundamental 
purpose. 

This  purpose,  then,  which  is  central,  and  the 
purposing  machine,  is  my  "I,"  my  most  in- 
ward self.  And  this  self  is  unstable  and  often 
shifting.  To  carry  out  even  our  most  stable 
purpose  we  must  also  deal  with  a  changing 
world  and  a  changing  knowledge  of  the  world. 
Life  is  a  constant  adapting  of  our  conduct  to 
a  changed  and  changing  world  in  order  to 
carry  out  our  purpose.  And  our  purpose  be- 
comes fuller  and  clearer  as  we  carry  it  out, 
and  ends  in  joy  or  in  sorrow  as  it  was  fitted 
to  life's  deepest  reality  for  us.  The  strong 
successful  man  is  one  who  has  a  relatively 
stable  and  fixed  purpose,  and  who  skillfully 
adapts  his  conduct  to  a  changing  world  so  that 
he  makes  that  world,  including  in  it  other  pur- 
poses, subordinate  and  tributary  to  his  pur- 
pose. This  requires  knowledge  of  that 


32  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

11  world'*  and  skillful  foresight  into  its  prob- 
able changes.  We  need  to  know  the  "relation 
and  bearing"  of  things. 

Nevertheless,  our  knowledge  must  always 
remain  relative.  We  must  always  act  even 
though  we  confess  our  fundamental  ignorance. 
We  speak  of  "matter,"  and  no  man  is  so  en- 
tirely dogmatic  as  the  materialist.  But  no 
one  really  knows  what  matter  is  or  whether 
there  is  any  such  thing.  We  all  use  the  tele- 
phone and  the  telegraph,  but  not  the  wisest 
man  knows  what  electricity  is,  or  if  it  "is." 
Our  experience  of  the  way  things  act  is  the 
extent  of  our  knowledge,  and  we  assume  that 
they  always  act  in  the  same  way.  We  cannot 
prove  it.  In  point  of  fact,  new  activity  and 
new  ways  of  acting  meet  us  every  day.  No 
man  knows  how  far  what  we  call  the  mind  can 
affect  what  we  call  the  body.  Yet  we  have  all 
sorts  of  dogmatisms  and  downright  "sure- 
nesses,"  and  will  always  have  them,  for  we 
cannot  get  along  in  life  without  them.  Even 
false  dogmatisms  give  stability  to  our  pur- 
poses, and  are  often  better  than  fruitless 
negations.  When  we  look  out  on  the  stormy 
sea  of  life  with  its  uncharted  shoals,  its  rocks 
and  wrecks,  its  weary  salty  stretches,  and  its 
wild,  headstrong  sailors  plunging  on  to  rocks 
that  have  been  marked  deadly  in  long  ages 
past,  we  may  well  draw  back.  Can  we  sail 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  OUR  EXAMINATION         33 

those  seas?  Can  we  send  out  our  children  to 
sail  amid  those  perils!  Must  each  generation 
be  a  new  weary  quest  of  Odysseus? 

The  heart  of  despair  answers  with  Scho- 
penhauer, "No."  The  heart  of  faith  cries  out, 
"Yes."  In  all  our  ignorance  our  way  is  up 
to  God,  to  knowledge,  to  truth,  to  holiness  and 
victory.  We  cannot  prove  it,  no  more  than  we 
can  prove  that  matter  exists.  But  we  find  in 
thus  believing  stability  for  our  purpose  and 
joy  in  our  hearts  as  we  cry,  "Now  are  we  the 
sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be."  Amid  all  the  experiences  of  the 
ages  this  abiding  faith  under  a  thousand  forms, 
and  clothed  in  myriad  phrases,  has  given 
strength,  stability,  courage,  and  clarity  to  men's 
loftiest  purpose,  and  significance  and  reality  of 
the  highest  kind  to  human  life. 

For  after  all  no  certainty  can  transcend  us. 
We  must  do  the  knowing.  Are  we  sane  or  in- 
sane? No  insane  man  is  likely  to  confess  or 
even  know  his  insanity.  We  can  only  feel  as 
sure  as  we  know  anything.  This  kind  of  cer- 
tainty is  finality  for  us.  And  at  many  different 
points  the  confessedly  finite  erring  mind  reaches 
finality  and  "assurance."  Every  science  and 
every  religion  rests  upon  exactly  the  same 
type  of  certainty.  All  come  up  from  time  to 
time  against  blank  walls  of  ignorance  and 
limitation.  Dogmatism  is  the  folly  and  failing 


34  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

of  all.  The  dogmatism  of  theology  is  not  one 
whit  more  offensive  than  the  scientific  dogma- 
tism, say,  of  Haeckel,  and  not  one  whit  more 
excusable. 

Dogmatism  is  the  attempt  to  force  your 
living,  vital,  all-consuming  assurance  upon 
another  man  from  the  outside;  whereas  all 
real  assurance  must  come  from  within.  "What 
is  finality  for  us  can  become  finality  for  some 
one  else  only  when  that  person  has  the  same 
type  of  assurance  we  have.  The  confession  of 
tHe  relativity  of  our  knowledge  is  neither 
agnosticism  nor  the  refusal  to  accept  as  final 
certain  fundamental  postulates. 

There  must  be  gradations  in  our  assurance. 
We  may  be  convinced  that  the  Spirit  proceeds 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  but  to-day  no 
sensible  man  will  hold  that  conviction  with  the 
same  sense  of  assurance  that  he  confesses  that 
God  is  love,  or  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God. 
That  is  highest  assurance  when  it  has  become 
part  of  our  being ;  when  we  feel  as  Luther  felt, 
"I  can  do  no  otherwise,"  and  we  are  ready 
to  stake  life  and  reputation  upon  the  issue. 
When  we  have  reached  knowledge  that  is  final 
for  us  we  are  ready  to  fling  our  whole  person- 
ality into  the  battle  for  its  maintenance,  so  far 
as  its  maintenance  affects  our  personal  in- 
tegrity. So  that  even  when  we  admit  the  theo- 
retical possibility  of  our  being  mistaken,  prac- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  OUR  EXAMINATION          35 

tically  we  are  so  convinced,  so  sure,  so  intensely 
filled  with  the  conviction  that  we  are  right,  that 
nothing  can  shake  us.  And  no  man  who  is  in- 
capable of  this  highest  assurance  along  some 
line  is  or  can  be  efficient. 

Nor  is  there  any  but  the  one  basis  for  any 
kind  of  certainty.  All  certainty  is  based  upon 
our  interpretation  of  what  is  happening  in  and 
about  us,  our  experience  of  life.  The  modern 
methods  of  the  library  and  the  study  can  cer- 
tainly point  to  the  results  in  modern  life  as  the 
best  evidence  of  this  value.  Eeligion  must  do 
the  same  thing.  In  the  last  analysis  men  are 
going  to  have  religious  assurance  because  of 
what  it  does  in  and  for  them  and  others.  Our 
highest  religious  assurance  comes  when  we  can 
of  personal  experience  say,  "It  did  this  for  me, 
as  it  did  it  for  others  before  me. ' ' 

For  this  reason  the  highest  religious  assur- 
ance will  always  rest  upon  a  social  or  group 
basis.  When  a  perfected  humanity  comes,  it 
will  not  be  difficult  to  accept  a  perfect  Father 
of  that  humanity.  Nor  will  we  rest  simply 
upon  our  own  assurance,  but  upon  the  calm 
and  widespread  acceptance  of  the  group. 
Nearly  all  our  knowledge  and  assurance  is  now 
social.  No  man  can  personally  do  more  than 
collect  the  experiences  of  others  outside  of  his 
own  narrow  line  of  work  and  experience.  Most 
of  us  would  be  hard  put  to  it  to  demonstrate 


36  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  likelihood  of  the  law  of  gravitation  to  a 
doubting  savage  who  insisted  that  the  stars 
stood  still.  We  recognize  the  limitations  of 
this  assurance,  but  it  is  often  all  we  have,  and 
sometimes  we  must  act  upon  it  long  before  we 
"know"  even  in  the  most  restricted  sense  of 
that  abused  word.  It  is  hard  to  excuse  the  av- 
erage unmedical  layman  who  will  not  accept 
the  great  balance  of  medical  expert  testimony 
to  the  value  of  vaccination.  And  if  he  does 
neglect  it  and  gets  smallpox  we  generally  say, 
"Serves  him  right."  At  the  same  time,  only 
medical  dogmatism  claims  that  there  is  no  room 
for  doubt. 

Often  we  are  incapable  of  weighing  the  evi- 
dence that  is  presented.  The  judgment,  for 
instance,  of  the  ordinary  layman  on  vaccina- 
tion is  worthless.  So  that  at  times  we  must 
trust  the  best  expert  advice  we  can  get,  know- 
ing that  its  conclusions  are  tentative.  At  other 
times  we  are  blameworthy  if  we  have  not  per- 
sonally exhausted  every  means  at  hand  to  gain 
first-hand  knowledge  and  data  upon  which  to 
act. 

This  is  especially  the  case  when  we  are  called 
upon  as  Christian  men  to  vote  and  act  on  po- 
litical measures  that  may  help  or  hinder  the 
kingdom.  "We  must,  if  possible,  be  informed 
at  first  hand  as  to  the  relation  and  value  of 
such  measures.  More  than  once  the  Christian 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  OUR  EXAMINATION         37 

^entiment  has  been  misled  and  abused  by 
selfish  plotters  who  have  raised  false  issues  and 
invented  party  cries  to  lead  men  professing 
the  kingdom  purpose  astray,  and  use  them  for 
the  establishment  of  a  reign  of  unrighteous- 
ness. 

Radical  idealism  in  the  Christian  Church 
has  often  been  hampered,  and  rendered  inef- 
fective through  the  dogmatism  and  prejudices 
that  prevent  union  of  forces  for  a  special  end. 
The  "good  men,"  or  "men  of  good  will,"  are 
so  set  in  their  conception  of  the  way  the  good  is 
to  be  brought  about,  that  they  cannot  work  with 
other  "good  men"  until  they  have  convinced 
them  fully  in  regard  to  mere  machinery.  Espe- 
cially in  the  United  States  we  have  idealism 
coming  to  us  from  England,  Ireland,  Germany, 
France,  Russia,  etc.,  but  it  dresses  differently 
and  speaks  a  different  dialect  according  to  the 
land  of  its  origin.  Whereas  selfishness  is 
united  by  self-interests,  idealism  is  divided  by 
its  dress.  If  we  can  only  learn  to  grade  our 
assurance  in  some  relation  to  the  actual  evi- 
dence we  have  at  hand,  we  can  bear  and  forbear 
with  many  who  are  idealists  like  ourselves 
but  only  speak  a  somewhat  different  dialect. 
Paul  was  a  devout  and  convinced  relativist. 
Now,  he  says,  we  see  in  a  hand-glass  dimly ;  he 
knew  that  we  but  know  in  part ;  it  did  not  pre- 
vent him  "being  sure."  Nothing  could  sep- 


38  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

arate  him  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus, 
neither  life  nor  death.  Yet  he  was  not  always 
sure  that  he  had  the  "Spirit"  and  had  to  give 
tentative  answers. 

Thus  we  must  feel  our  way,  and  in  the  chap- 
ters that  are  to  follow  we  are  but  trying  to  feel 
our  way  out  of  the  bogs  and  quagmires  into 
which  society  has  stumbled.  What  political 
measures  are  most  likely  to  give  us  the  con- 
ditions of  the  kingdom  dream?  What  proposed 
social  solutions  seem  most  calculated  to  intro- 
duce the  theocratic  democracy  for  which  the 
prophets  pleaded  and  for  which  Christ  died? 
What  theories  of  communal  reorganization 
promise  us  most  help  in  feeling  our  way  out 
of  moral  dirt  and  savagery  into  the  purity  and 
peace  of  the  divine  life  ? 


CHAPTER  IV 
WHAT  is  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER? 

ANY  earnest  ethical  thinking  must  to-day  be 
discontented  with  many  existing  conditions. 
Disorderly  houses,  saloons,  ill-kept  jails,  a  crim- 
inal class,  suicides,  and  crime  all  mark  our 
civilization.  At  the  same  time  the  question  must 
always  arise  whether  any  drastic  measures  are 
needed,  and  whether  any  reorganization  of  the 
social  order  is  either  necessary  or  possible. 
We  know  the  existing  order,  the  future  is  un- 
known. Can  we  not  so  modify  the  existing 
order,  so  change  its  nonessentials,  that  it  may 
serve  as  a  basis  for  the  kingdom  of  God?  This 
is  not  only  a  fair  question,  but  one  which  nine 
out  of  ten  sensible  Christian  men,  as  well  as 
men  outside  the  Church,  would  answer  in  the 
affirmative.  The  burden  of  proof  that  the 
existing  order  needs  radical  change  rests  with 
those  who  make  the  social  proposals,  and  all 
they  should  demand  is  a  fair  hearing. 

Again,  in  estimating  the  social  order  it  is 
not  fair  to  hold  it  entirely  responsible  for  all 
the  evils  by  which  we  are  confronted.  All  social 
orders  have  had  their  excesses  and  their  dis- 
eases. All  men  are  opposed  in  theory  to  graft, 

39 


40  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

corruption,  dishonesty,  and  other  such  ills.  In 
our  examination  of  the  social  order,  therefore, 
we  want  to  catch  its  real  spirit  and  its  funda- 
mental inwardness.  "We  want  to  find  out  not 
its  abuses  and  its  shames,  but  its  ideals  and  the 
ends  it  sets  before  itself.  To  estimate  this 
rightly  is  a  delicate  and  difficult  task,  and  when 
we  have  finished,  the  question  will  still  arise, 
Can  this  be  made  thoroughly  Christian? 

The  fruitful  division  of  the  stages  of  human 
progress  upward  through  the  savage,  barba- 
rian, nomadic-hunting,  pastoral,  agricultural, 
trading,  feudal,  commercial,  and  industrial 
eras  can  be  maintained  only  up  to  a  certain 
point.  The  lines  of  division  are  never  really 
sharp.  Each  stage  leaves  its  traces  upon  the 
civilization  that  comes  after  it.  We  have  never 
ceased  grazing  cattle  or  plowing  the  fields,  or, 
indeed,  for  that  matter,  going  on  the  warpath 
like  savages,  and  dressing  ourselves  in  the 
flaunting  rags  of  barbarism.  At  the  same  time, 
it  is  true  that  various  ill-defined  stages  are 
marked  by  dominant  interests  and  special  or- 
ganizing conceptions.  We  advance  by  stages 
from  the  relatively  simple,  homogeneous  and 
undifferentiated  to  the  relatively  complex,  het- 
erogeneous and  highly  differentiated,  as  Her- 
bert Spencer  would  tell  us.  And  although  we 
can  find  historic  survivals  of  all  stages  of 
human  progress,  except  perhaps  the  very  low- 


WHAT  IS  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER?  41 

est,  every  age  is  dominated  by  some  one  type 
of  cultivation  and  some  one  spirit  or  interest. 

What,  then,  is  the  organizing  spirit  or  in- 
terest of  our  social  organization?  It  will  not 
do  as  yet  to  call  it  Christian,  although  we  shall 
have  to  examine  this  claim  in  a  subsequent 
chapter.  Too  broad  and  indefinite  is  the  defi- 
nition on  the  basis  of  iron  or  steam;  for  al- 
though coal  and  iron  and  steam  are  certainly 
notes  of  our  age,  they  are  only  the  materials 
with  which  the  age  works.  As  over  against 
agrarianism  or  the  pastoral  life  we  are  cer- 
tainly commercial;  that  is  to  say,  we  exchange 
our  products.  The  great  trade  routes  of  the 
world  are  crowded  with  trains  and  vessels  car- 
rying the  products  of  our  country  to  be  ex- 
changed for  the  products  of  another.  In  these 
exchanges  we  have  simply  enlarged  the  world 
of  the  Great  Awakening,  whose  religious  ex- 
pression was  the  Reformation. 

And  yet  our  modern  world  is  different, 
essentially  different,  from  this  trading  bour- 
geois world,  The  spirit  and  aims  of  the  "free 
city"  are  not  ours.  The  more  the  writer  has 
studied  the  theology,  ethics,  and  literature  of 
the  period  of  the  Great  Awakening  (the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries),  the  more  has  the 
great  difference  dawned  on  his  mind.  We  have 
confused  ourselves  along  nearly  all  lines  of 
historic  thought  by  assuming  that  the  trading 


42 

middle  class  of  the  later  mediaeval  period  lived 
in  our  world,  or  that  their  answers  to  re- 
ligious and  ethical  questions  were  from  our 
point  of  view.  The  thing  that  marks  the  change 
is  not  so  much  a  new  scientific  method  (Bacon's 
induction).  Men  have  in  actual  life  always 
found  out  things  by  experiment  more  or  less 
systematically.  Nor  is  it  the  great  increase  in 
the  range  of  our  sense  perception,  made  possi- 
ble by  the  microscope,  the  telescope,  etc. 

_jjQLfl.tjnfl-rfrg  n"Tjg:orld  is  the  new  industrial- 
ism.  We  trade  in  things  made  by  machinery  in 
great  quantities  for  trading  purposes.  Even  our 
scientific  methods  are  to  some  degree  the  chil- 
dren of  our  industrialism.  The  machine  has 
forced  upon  us  the  weighing,  measuring,  and 
analysis  of  matter  in  a  way  never  necessary 
before.  The  machine  has  also  forced  us  to  tap 
ever  new  forces  of  energy,  and  coal,  oil,  water, 
and  electricity  have  been  made  the  humble  serv- 
ants of  the  machine.  Its  demands  are  great, 
and  no  doubt  in  the  near  future  the  sun's  energy 
and  the  power  stored  up  by  wind  and  tide  in 
ocean  waves  and  currents  will  be  also  harnessed 
directly  to  the  machine. 

This  industrialism  makes  products  for  com- 
mercial exchange,  and  our  age  may  therefore 
be  called  an  age  of  commercial  industrialism. 

This  change  affects  all  life.  While  it  is  per- 
fectly true  that  the  herding  of  cattle  and  the 


WHAT  IS  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER?  43 

plowing  of  the  fields  must  go  on,  they  go  on 
under  completely  changed  conditions.  The 
older  agrarian  age,  for  example,  was  one 
where  exchange  of  products  was  relatively 
secondary.  Even  now  there  are  limited  regions 
where  the  content  of  life  is  raising  things  im- 
mediately needed,  and  only  the  surplus  is  ex- 
changed, and  where  the  exchange  is  a  very 
secondary  matter.  This  is  not,  however,  gen- 
erally the  case.  In  an  increasing  degree  the 
products  of  field  and  farm  are  grown  and  cared 
for  simply  that  they  may  be  exchanged,  and  the 
industrial  situation  is  emphasized  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  farm  machine  and  the  dependence 
of  the  farm  upon  the  locomotive  and  great  mills 
for  weaving  and  grinding. 

How  irresistibly  this  change  affects  our  think- 
ing and  our  conduct  may  be  seen  in  following, 
for  instance,  the  ethical  literature.  As  an  ex- 
ample one  may  take  war.  The  feudal  wars 
were  for  land.  Land  was  the  one  main  in- 
dustrial opportunity.  As  the  world  became 
commercial  the  great  wars  were  for  the  com- 
mand of  the  trade  routes  and  the  command  of 
the  sea.  The  Roman  empire  passed  substan- 
tially through  these  stages,1  but  she  never 
reached  industrialism.  She  reached  out  for 

1  The  social  history  of  the  Roman  empire  is  of  absorbing  inter- 
est as  seen  in  the  pages  of  Mommsen,  Ferrero,  Dill,  and  Fried- 
laender,  and  yet  even  in  these  the  political  history  often  crowds 
out  the  really  more  important  social  history. 


44  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

land,  and  when  a  military  class  ruled  firmly 
trade  sprang  up  and  that  class  organized  the 
nation  for  the  command  of  the  trade  routes  of 
the  Mediterranean.  Thus  Carthage  was  de- 
stroyed and  Rome  reigned  supreme. 

The  attitude  of  industrialism  to  war  is  most 
interesting.  The  supply  of  the  implements  of 
war,  weapons,  ships,  etc.,  is  an  immediate  in- 
terest and  exerts  great  pressure  on  all  the  great 
industrial  nations.  No  one  can  say  exactly 
how  much  of  a  factor  contractors '  pressure  was 
on  Russia  for  supplying  the  things  needed  for 
war,  but  it  is  now  known  to  have  been  very 
great.  No  one  knows  exactly  how  far  the  de- 
mand for  more  battleships  is  the  result  of  in- 
dustrial demands  to  supply  the  expensive  steel 
needed  at  the  cost  of  the  community;  but  it  is 
known  that  the  steel  interests  maintain  no 
lobby  in  London,  Berlin,  or  Washington  to  pre- 
vent great  waste  in  battleships.  But  actual  war 
is  a  very  different  matter.  The  dislocation  of 
commercial  industrialism  by  actual  warfare  is 
very  great.  The  scene  of  the  conflict  may  be 
ever  so  far  away,  yet  nevertheless  it  at  once 
introduces  factors  very  difficult  to  estimate  in 
old  Broad  or  Wall  Street.  There  is  a  steady 
and  increasing  need  for  stability  in  the  markets 
upon  which  industrialism  depends,  and  hence 
the  curious  paradox  of  nations  spending  half 
their  revenue  on  things  connected  with  war,  and 


WHAT  IS  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER?  45 

at  the  same  time  preparing  for  a  world  peace. 
The  time  is  perhaps  not  far  away  when  com- 
mercial industrialism  in  the  interests  of  sta- 
bility for  the  market  of  its  products  will  for- 
bid war,  as  men  are  now  forbidden  to  go  armed 
on  the  streets  and  to  avenge  their  own  wrongs. 
Commercial  industrialism  is  not,  however, 
the  whole  story.  It  is  a 


We  will  see  in  ChapIerXV  what  is  meant  by 
competition.  The  goal  is  the  subordination  of 
another's  purpose  to  your  own.  It  aims,  there- 
fore, at  the  exclusion  of  the  competitor  as  a 
competitor.  He  may  go  on  living  as  your  em- 
ployee or  as  your  inferior,  but  he  must  not  seek 
to  compete.  The  competitive  character  of  com- 
mercial industrialism  may  be  taken  for  granted. 
But  the  farther  question  conies  up,  Why  is  in- 
dustrialism so  competitive?  And  the  answer 
gives  us  another  clause  in  our  growing  defi- 
nition of  the  social  order. 

Our  commercial  industrialism  has  profit  for 
its  incentive  to  action.  The  definition  of  profit 
for  our  purpose  is  simple;  it  is  what  remains 
to  the  owners  of  the  industrial  tools  and  oppor- 
tunity, after  capital  has  been  paid  its  interest 
and  the  wages  of  labor  and  superintendence 
have  been  deducted.1  That  there  is  often  no 
profit  does  not  affect  the  situation;  the  aim  is 
profit.  What  often  seemingly  confuses  those 

1  This  is,  as  the  writer  understands,  Professor  Ely's  definition. 


46  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

of  us  who  are  laymen  in  economic  discussion 
is  the  fact  that  money  is  the  conceptual  machin- 
ery of  commerce.  Just  as  general  concepts 
help  us  to  think,  so  money  enables  commerce 
to  abstract  from  the  complicated  process  of 
production  and  exchange  a  "net  profit"  or  loss 
in  money.  Money  as  money  has  no  value.  It 
is  like  a  general  concept,  " table,"  "chair," 
which  helps  us  deal  with  concrete  individual 
tables  and  chairs.  If  gold  could  be  extracted 
from  sea  water  at  ten  cents  an  ounce  it  would 
cease  to  be  the  conceptual  standard  of  value. 
For  all  value  is  purely  relative.  There  can  be 
no  such  thing  as  "absolute"  value.  The  com- 
monest, cheapest  rye  bread  would  have  more 
value  than  diamonds  to  starving  men  on  a 
desert  island.  Human  wants  change,  and  only 
that  has  a  value  which  meets  human  wants. 

Our  commercial  industrialism  has  not  only 
satisfied  human  wants  but  is  intensely  inter- 
ested in  creating  them.  There  is,  for  instance, 
now  a  great  and  increasing  pressure  to  get  men 
to  "want"  automobiles.  Thousands  of  dollars 
are  being  spent  to  create  a  want  for  this  indus- 
trial product.  The  incentive  to  action  is  the 
profit  in  making  and  selling  automobiles.  After 
interest  on  the  capital  has  been  paid,  and  wages 
and  superintendence  have  been  deducted,  the 
owners  of  the  industrial  opportunity  hope, 
sometimes  vainly,  that  a  good  share  of  the 


WHAT  IS  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER?  47 

product  will  still  remain  to  them  in  the  form 
of  ''money,"  that  is,  credit  at  the  bank  or  the 
evidences  that  they  are  the  lawful  possessors 
of  claims  upon  products  they  need  more  than 
automobiles. 

But  in  another  connection  we  will  see  that 
wealth  is  not  simply  possession;  that  a  man 
might  thinkably  be  the  " wealthiest"  man  in  the 
world  and  only  possess  a  drawerful  of  legal  doc- 
uments. Hence  there  remains  a  still  farther 
note  to  the  definition  of  our  social  order.  It  is 
a  competitive  commercial  industrialism,  with 
profits  as  incentive  to  action,  and  private  pos- 
session of  the  productive  tools  and  opportunity 
as  its  goal. 

Why?  Because  only  by  possessing  the  access 
to  the  productive  opportunity  and  tools  are  we 
in  any  sense  free.  If  we  came  to  an  island 
where  twenty  men  had  been  wrecked  before  us, 
and  had  divided  up  the  island  and  annexed  the 
food  supply,  and  owned  also  the  guns  and 
powder  factory,  the  wood  supply  for  making 
boats,  etc.,  we  could  only  live  on  the  island 
and  work  for  the  twenty  men  on  wages.  When 
we  shot  game  with  their  guns  they  could  make 
us  not  only  pay  for  the  powder  but  for  the  use 
of  their  guns,  and  also  rent  for  our  shelter,  and 
we  would  be  at  their  mercy.  Whatever  we  had 
over  from  our  work  and  hunting,  after  eating 
enough  to  work  and  hunt  some  more,  the  twenty 


48  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

men  could  demand  of  us  as  rent  and  interest. 
In  point  of  fact  that  is  what  happens.  Thou- 
sands of  babies  are  "wrecked"  on  the  shores 
of  this  island  in  God's  universe  which  we  call 
earth,  and  we  who  have  been  here  before  have 
mainly  annexed  the  food-supplying  and  cloth- 
ing machinery  as  our  private  property,  and  as 
these  babes  grow  up  they  must  pay  us  rent  and 
interest,  and  what  that  rent  and  interest  is  de- 
pends a  good  deal  upon  their  necessity. 

Now,  we  ourselves  bring  babies  to  the  island 
and  as  we  do  not  want  them  to  be  wholly  de- 
pendent on  the  other  nineteen,  we  arrange  that 
our  babies  have  as  big  a  share  in  the  productive 
opportunity  as  possible.  The  bigger  the  share 
the  more  rent  and  interest  can  we  get  from  the 
newcomers  who  have  no  claim  but  their  capac- 
ity to  work.  Hence  the  real  reason  we  want 
profits,  and  big  profits,  is  that  we  may  in  the 
first  instance  be  independent — that  is,  be  able 
to  go  to  the  sources  of  supply  and  work  for  our- 
selves, but  also  that  if  we  like  to  we  may  stop 
work,  and  say  to  others  outside,  "If  you  will 
work  for  us  you  may  have  access  to  the  ma- 
chinery and  land  we  own."  Stocks,  bonds,  se- 
curities, title  deeds  to  houses,  lands,  etc.,  if 
well  chosen,  give  us  so  large  a  share  in  the 
machinery  that  we  can  pay  for  superintendence, 
and  pay  lawyers  to  look  after  it,  and  can  then 
with  our  wives  and  children  be  free  to  amuse 


WHAT  IS  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER?  49 

ourselves  while  others  work  for  us.  This  is 
the  goal  of  thrift  and  foresight.  Only  a  few 
get  to  the  point  of  even  personal  independence. 
Most  of  us  must  all  our  days  work  for  those  who 
own  land  or  machinery,  but  the  "successful" 
man  is  the  one  who  gets  by  shrewdness  or  in- 
dustry or  inheritance  or  crime  to  the  point 
where  he  owns  so  much  land  and  machinery  that 
the  mere  rent  will  enable  him  to  stop  working 
if  he  wants  to,  and  feed  and  clothe  his  wife  and 
babies  with  the  most  costly  and  beautiful  prod- 
ucts of  industry. 

Several  things  keep  this  system  working  out 
remarkable  results.  The  competition  to  get 
out  of  the  predominantly  working  class  into  the 
predominantly  owning  class  is  stern  and  con- 
stant. It  is,  moreover,  almost  as  hard  at  a 
certain  stage  of  the  process  to  maintain  one's 
position  in  the  owning  class  as  to  get  into  it. 
The  habit  of  work  is  formed  so  that  men  who 
could  stop  go  on  ever  accumulating  larger  and 
larger  shares  in  the  productive  machinery.  The 
fear  of  dropping  back  into  the  dependent  class 
through  business  misfortune  haunts  even  suc- 
cessful men.  Every  panic  whitens  the  hair  of 
men  whom  the  world  calls  rich,  for  every  year 
a  goodly  number  fail  in  the  struggle  and  drop 
back  to  be  highly  paid,  perhaps,  at  the  same 
time  really  dependent  wage  workers. 

Then,  again,  the  children  of  the  owning  class 


50  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

are  apt  to  be  softened  and  corrupted  by  luxury 
and  extravagance,  and  with  the  third  or  fourth 
generation  a  large  proportion  have  made  ship- 
wreck of  their  lives.  The  hard  work  that  kept 
the  parents  thrifty  and  sober  has  given  way  to 
idleness  that  makes  the  offspring  languid  and 
intemperate.  And  as  a  crowd  of  eager,  intelli- 
gent, grasping  competitors  are  always  reaching 
after  the  productive  machinery  and  the  indus- 
trial opportunity  there  is  a  constant  flux.  The 
owning  class  is  never  as  sharply  separated  from 
the  working  class  as  a  description  would  seem 
to  imply.  The  owning  class  work  and  the  work- 
ing class  own,  and  those  who  to-day  are  workers 
are  to-morrow  owners;  but  the  social  order  is 
nevertheless  one  of  two  classes,  those  who  must 
work  or  starve,  and  those  who  need  not  work  if 
they  do  not  want  to.  And  there  is  always  this 
sharp  battle  going  on  for  the  control  of  the  pro- 
ductive machinery,  which  enables  a  man  to 
work  or  not  as  he  wants. 

The  very  effectiveness  of  profits  as  a  spur 
to  action  depends,  indeed,  upon  the  productive 
machinery  not  being  too  widely  distributed. 
Men  and  women  will  sooner  work  for  them- 
selves and  live  rather  badly  than  work  for 
others  even  though  better  paid.  That  is  one 
reason  why  free  land  has  made  the  servant 
question  acute.  The  system  needs  for  its  per- 
fect working  the  constant  spur  of  necessity. 


WHAT  IS  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER?  51 

"Wages  rise  when  the  job  seeks  the  man,  wages 
fall  when  the  man  seeks  the  job.  No  organiza- 
tion to  maintain  wages  can  long  resist  the 
pressure  of  thousands  out  of  a  job.  Perhaps  at 
first  wages  are  not  lowered  for  fear  of  strikes, 
but  all  the  men  work  harder  to  keep  their  work, 
and  the  weak  and  relatively  incompetent  are 
forced  out  into  the  waiting  list,  so  that  more 
work  is  'done  for  the  same  wage.  This  con- 
stant fierce  pressure  produces  a  distinct  and 
striking  type  of  swift  efficiency,  and  sharp, 
eager,  restless  adaptation  to  the  exciting  strug- 
gle. All  classes  are  under  its  influence.  It  be- 
comes the  prized  ideal  of  manhood.  Pulpit, 
press,  Sabbath  schools,  colleges,  teachers,  and 
parents  impress  upon  the  young  the  need  of 
taking  every  advantage  and  of  watchful,  con- 
stant energy  in  seeking  openings,  and  thrifty 
employment  of  time  in  gaining  ability  for  the 
struggle. 


CHAPTER  V 
FAKTHEE  EXAMINATION  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER 

WHEN  men  by  working  produce  things  in 
excess  of  their  immediate  need  and  can  ex- 
change them  for  products  they  need  more,  both 
parties  to  the  bargain  are  benefited.  Exchange 
value  is  purely  relative.  If  I  fancy  black  roses 
and  have  enough  money  I  may  pay  a  huge  sum 
which  no  one  else  in  the  world  would  care  to 
pay  for  the  flower.  The  market  price  is  only 
the  competitive  value  placed  by  human  judg- 
ment on  things  several  people  want.  In  a  simple 
community  the  exchange  goes  on  by  barter  and 
simple  market  arrangements.  But  as  life  be- 
comes more  highly  complex  men  begin  to  an- 
ticipate pressing  communal  needs,  and  by  buy- 
ing up  the  things  needed  when  they  are  cheap 
or  on  the  way  can  compel  men  to  pay  sums  dic- 
tated by  necessity.  At  first  this  was  called 
"forestalling"  and  was  punished  by  law  in 
England  up  to  1844.  In  our  complex  world  it 
is  hard  to  ever  secure  a  complete  monopoly  of 
anything.  But  the  one  aim  is,  of  course,  to  ex- 
clude or  limit  all  competition,  and  then  we  can 
get  any  price  necessity  dictates.  And  in  all 
bargaining  the  ideal  is  to  get  as  much  as  pos- 

52 


EXAMINATION  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER        53 

sible  for  as  little  as  possible.  The  climax  is  to 
get  something  for  nothing.  This  is  the  reason 
that  gambling  is  so  much  a  mark  of  our  age. 
The  essence  of  gambling  is  the  longing  for  a 
risk  to  get  something  for  nothing.  Early  bar- 
tering had  as  its  intent,  at  least,  to  give  to  each 
party  to  the  bargain  a  benefit.  An  honorable 
business  man  wished  to  serve  his  customers  and 
to  give  them  benefits,  such  as  they  conferred  on 
him  in  paying  what  he  asked.  Competition  if 
it  were  free  would  regulate  prices  to  what  each 
one  regarded  as  the  price  he  could  pay.  Under 
our  system  free  competition  is  impossible.  Free 
trade  we  make  impossible  by  tariff,  free  land  is 
impossible  because  the  supply  is  limited  and  it 
is  now  owned  by  private  holders.  Free  machin- 
ery is  made  impossible  by  patents,  etc.  Clever 
business  is,  therefore,  to  obtain  control  of  what 
everybody  wants  and  get  what  price  one  can 
for  it.  It  is  also  possible  to  create  new  wants 
which  then  the  creator  is  in  a  place  to  supply. 
The  ideal  is  to  "make  money."  All  want  to 
make  money,  because  with  money  wants  can  be 
supplied.  The  enormous  part  this  conceptual 
machinery  of  finance  plays  in  our  commercial 
industrialism  is  because  the  control  of  the  pro- 
ductive machinery  and  opportunity  is  always 
"on  sale." 

In  older  communities  there  are  some  values 
that  cannot  be  bought,  or  can  be  bought  only 


54  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

by  indirection.  One  cannot  buy  long  lineage, 
one  can  only  connect  oneself  with  it  by  possible 
marriage.  Thrones  and  crowns  of  any  im- 
portance cannot  be  bargained  for  in  open 
market.  In  newer  communities  scholarship, 
personal  qualities,  gifts  of  one  kind  or  another 
cannot  be  purchased.  At  the  same  time,  money 
enables  its  possessor  to  acquire  the  services  of 
these  or  at  least  their  countenance.  The  gifted 
singer  can  be  had  for  an  evening,  the  entertain- 
ment of  kings  can  be  reached  with  the  reflected 
importance  upon  the  entertainer.  Thus  money 
representing  abstractly  human  industry  can  be 
exchanged  for  almost  anything  that  concretely 
satisfies  human  wants.  If  we  actually  saw  the 
toil  that  is  represented  by  a  somewhat  dirty 
ten-dollar  bill,  or  a  crisp  ten-pound  note,  we 
would  perhaps  hesitate  longer  than  we  do  in 
wasting  so  much  human  energy  upon  the 
things  we  buy  and  do.  But  money  is  but 
our  conceptual  machinery,  and  the  toil  it 
symbolizes  and  the  conditions  under  which 
this  toil  is  undertaken  do  not  appeal  to  our 
imagination. 

Not  only  in  our  social  order  is  the  worker 
largely  separated  from  the  possession  of  his 
tool,  but  the  price  of  toil  is  separated  from  the 
toiler  and  is  made  impersonal  and  unreal  to 
the  possessor  of  the  price.  All  rents  and  in- 
terest are  human  toil.  Without  human  toil 


EXAMINATION  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER       55 

there  would  be  neither  rent  nor  interest.  When 
anyone  reflects  on  his  income  he  must  be  struck 
with  the  fact  that  he  cannot  say,  and  no  one  can 
say,  whether  he  has  rendered  any  compensa- 
tion to  the  community  for  the  toil  and  labor  that 
that  income  really  represents.  We  do  not  see 
the  stain  of  little  children's  dirty  fingers  on  our 
cotton  fabrics,  nor  realize  out  of  what  weak- 
ness, perhaps,  the  price  of  an  evening's  amuse- 
ment has  been  wrung.  In  the  vast  complication 
of  modern  industrialism  all  human  relationships 
have  been  changed,  and  the  toil  is  the  unseen 
quantity  and  the  symbol,  money,  is  the  concrete 
reality.  The  money  we  get  may  be  just  com- 
pensation for  our  toil  and  adequate  reward  for 
real  service  rendered  in  exchange,  or  it  may  not 
be.  It  may  be  simply  the  tax  that  ownership 
can  wring  from  man's  necessity  to  use  the  pro- 
ductive machinery  in  order  to  live.  Or  it  may 
be  both.  The  two  elements  may  mingle  in  such 
a  way  that  no  one  is  really  in  a  position  to  say 
whether  he  is  "earning  his  keep"  or  not.  No 
one  can  say  offhand,  in  other  words,  whether 
his  life  is  parasitic  or  not.  Some  lives  are,  no 
doubt,  definitely  and  indisputably  parasitic, 
some  lives  are  definitely  worth  far  more  than 
they  ever  cost  the  community,  no  matter  how 
richly  they  may  seem  to  have  lived,  and  most 
lives  are  in  all  probability  rendering  a  tribute 
of  service  to  the  owning  class,  and  so  are  vie- 


56  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tims  to  some  extent  of  the  parasitic  class, 
whereas  many  of  us  are  semiparasitic  and 
could  not  for  the  life  of  us  say  to  what  extent 
this  is  true.  This  has,  perhaps,  always  been  the 
case.  The  "worth"  of  a  life  belongs  in  the  last 
analysis  only  to  God's  judgment.  At  the  same 
time,  when  we  calculate  our  toil  in  terms  of  the 
toil  of  our  brothers,  sisters,  and  of  little  chil- 
dren we  could  wish  to  be  more  certain  we  were 
really  rendering  them  services  equal  in  amount 
for  their  travail. 

It  is  foolish  for  the  critic  of  our  social  order 
to  underestimate  the  things  that  have  been 
achieved  under  class  ownership  of  the  tools  of 
production.  This  has  been  the  way  the  tools 
have  been  owned  in  every  period  of  human 
history  since  primitive  communism  broke  down. 
The  feudal,  the  commercial,  the  industrial 
epochs  are  those  that  shine  out  as  the  stages  by 
which  the  world  has  been  most  successfully 
mastered  by  energetic,  even  if  sometimes  harsh, 
masters.  Indeed,  when  the  pen  of  genius  draws 
the  feudal  period  in  the  lines  of  beauty  made 
familiar  to  us  by  Walter  Scott,  our  hearts  go 
back  to  it  with  a  certain  fondness,  whatever  may 
be  its  faults.  So  to-day  the  record  of  our  indus- 
trial attainment  is  no  mean  history.  Anyone 
who  rises  from  the  reading  of  Wallace's  "Won- 
derful Century"  without  some  sense  of  the 
good  accomplished  must  be  very  much  pre- 


EXAMINATION  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER       57 

occupied  by  his  own  woes.  And  it  must  surely 
be  conceded  that  many  a  man  has  been  stirred 
and  compelled  by  the  pressure  of  commercial 
competition  to  almost  superhuman  endeavor. 
Not  simply  on  its  material  side  has  much  been 
done,  but  in  the  development  of  certain  most 
valuable  traits  of  character  and  in  the  empha- 
sis upon  certain  types  of  virtue  the  social  order 
has  a  word  to  say  for  itself. 

To  many  it  seems  as  if  the  whole  progress 
of  mankind  depended  on  the  fear  of  dependency 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  hope  of  ownership  on 
the  other.  These  powerful  spurs  do  not  even 
now  act  with  equal  power  on  all  or  at  all  times 
of  life,  and  many  would  look  with  distrust  on 
any  order  in  which  these  spurs  were  lacking. 
The  social  order  has  grown  up  out  of  the  needs 
and  feelings  of  men.  The  owners  of  the  tools 
of  production  are  not  a  band  of  unscrupulous 
conspirators  to  hold  down  the  oppressed  pro- 
letariat. In  fact,  it  might  almost  be  argued  that 
they  have  been  forced,  in  many  instances,  into 
leadership  by  the  needs  of  their  fellow  men. 
Men  are  born  into  a  social  order  which  is  the 
product  of  no  single  man's  will.  Nor  has  it 
come  in  a  night.  No  one  can  say  just  when  it 
came.  Feudalism  cannot  be  said  to  have  per- 
ished at  the  time  of  the  French  Eevolution,  for 
in  point  of  fact  feudalism  is  not  quite  dead  yet, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  no  sharp  line  can  really 


58  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

be  drawn  in  history  between  the  various  social 
orders. 

One  of  the  strong  points  of  feudalism  was  the 
fact  that  the  family  attached  to  the  land  grew 
up  with  an  overwhelming  sense  of  the  fitness 
of  the  social  order.  The  divine  right  of  kings 
was  thrust  upon  kings  by  those  who  looked  to 
kingship  as  a  rock  of  protection.  The  over- 
lord never  questioned  the  fitness  and  justice  of 
his  ruling  position.  He  felt  this  was  the  only 
social  order. 

It  is  one  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  present 
order  that  the  owners  of  the  tools  have  so  often 
"come  up"  and  are  not  born  into  the  sense  that 
whatever  is  is  right.  The  possessing  class  as 
an  industrial  order,  with  its  rapid  change  and 
constant  new  accessions,  does  not  feel  quite 
so  sure  that  the  order  in  which  it  finds  itself  is 
so  eternally  fit.  One  of  the  reasons  an  indus- 
trial possessing  class  seeks  alliances  with  the 
older  feudalism  is  just  this  sense  of  rawness 
and  uncertainty  which  is  disturbing,  and  can  be 
to  some  extent  offset  by  the  time-honored  as- 
surance of  position  and  power  the  older  landed 
and  military  feudalism  possesses  in  so  high  a 
degree. 

Art  expressions  and  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tions have  largely  been  handmaids  waiting  upon 
the  wants  and  luxuries  of  the  tool-owning  class, 
and  ministering  to  the  life  that  was  set  up  by 


EXAMINATION  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER        59 

that  class  as  the  admirable  life.  Nor  is  it  the 
least  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  art  life  of  to-day 
and  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  that  they  are 
the  handmaids  of  a  class  with  but  rather  vague 
and  unformed  ideals  of  what  is  the  admirable 
life.  The  social  and  aesthetic  certainties  of  the 
older  military  feudal  class  are  in  quite  amusing 
contrast  to  the  nervous  self-conscious  question- 
ing and  seeking  of  the  newly  forming  industrial 
possessing  class.  No  doubt  with  time  traditions 
would  form,  as  in  the  mediaeval  free  cities ;  but 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  personnel  of  the 
class  changes  is  a  distinct  hindrance  to  the 
formation  of  its  own  ideals.  So  that  up  to  the 
present,  at  least,  it  has  largely  had  to  live  on 
ideals  adapted  from  the  older  orders. 

Yet  this  very  fact  gives  the  new  industrial 
owning  class  a  much  greater  elasticity  than 
feudalism  ever  possessed.  Its  ranks  are  con- 
stantly recruited  by  new  blood.  Caste  is  al- 
most excluded,  and  in  spite  of  all  endeavors  to 
attain  aloofness  and  to  imitate  the  exclusive- 
ness  of  the  feudal  aristocracy,  the  attempt  sel- 
dom succeeds,  and  this  greatly  to  the  advantage 
of  the  class,  because  with  new  life  and  strength 
it  overcomes,  as  feudalism  could  not  do,  the 
ravages  of  luxury  and  the  wastes  of  its  nervous, 
often  suicidal,  haste. 

In  another  respect  the  new  social  order — 
for  commercial  industrialism  is  only  as  old  as 


60  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

coal  and  steam — differs  from  the  older  ones, 
in  that  more  than  ever  the  emphasis  is  upon 
brains  and  directing  intelligence.  Even  the 
power  of  the  owners  of  the  tool  to  purchase  this 
intelligence  is  limited.  They  cannot  command 
men's  loyalty  as  did  the  older  social  order. 
High  intelligence  soon  robs  those  it  serves  if 
they  are  not  always  on  the  alert,  and  itself 
passes  into  ownership,  while  the  former  own- 
ers sink  back  into  dependency  and  must  again 
labor.  This  process  forms  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting chapters  in  the  history  of  any  of  the 
great  centers  of  industrial  supremacy.  Thus 
acquisitive  intelligence  is  ever  on  the  alert  and 
forges  to  the  front.  Great  railroad  magnates 
trust  highly  paid  and  clever  subordinates,  and 
the  next  generation  sees  these  same  subor- 
dinates dominating  the  situation,  and  perhaps 
employing  the  children  of  the  former  magnates. 
This  change  and  excitement,  this  sense  of 
possible  ownership,  keeps  many  loyal  to  the 
social  order  in  the  hope  that  sustains  them  of 
being  at  some  time  themselves  masters  instead 
of  employees.  Even  though  it  is  evident  that 
the  circle  of  ownership  must  always  be  small, 
and  that  it  is  probably  growing  steadily  rela- 
tively smaller,  yet  no  one  is  excluded  absolutely 
by  caste  from  the  possible  entrance  into  the 
ownership  class,  to  be  thus  enabled  to  live  off 
the  industry  of  others.  Even  the  colored  race, 


EXAMINATION  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER       61 

who  are  excluded  from  social  mingling  with 
whites,  can  yet  now  enter  the  ownership  class 
and  by  holding  land  and  machinery  can  and  do 
in  increasing  numbers  live  off  the  industry  of 
white  employees.  The  bigness  of  this  prize  as 
taught  in  school  and  church  makes  many  a 
man  content  to  toil  on  even  though  outsiders 
see  he  has  no  chance  to  ever  really  attain  the 
goal  that  nerves  him  to  relatively  contented 
struggle. 

Such,  then,  is  in  rough  outline  our  social 
order,  whose  possible  radical  change  we  must 
then  consider  in  the  light  of  various  proposals 
whose  relation  to  a  Christian  ideal  must  then 
be  examined. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

A  CHRISTIAN  ESTIMATE  OF  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER 

VIEWING  the  social  order  as  it  is,  we  are  at 
once  confronted  with  all  kinds  of  charges,  some 
of  which  are  justified  by  unquestionable  evi- 
dence, that  corruption  defaces  the  system. 
Naturally  no  man  can  defend  the  things  charged 
against  society  along  these  lines.  At  the  same 
time,  our  purpose  is  not  the  exposure  of  what 
all  men  condemn  but  the  examination  of  the 
social  system  as  it  is  in  itself,  and  as  honest 
men  would  defend  it  and  perpetuate  it.  No 
social  order  will  guarantee  us  against  the 
abuses  of  cunning  and  the  craft  of  designing 
and  selfish  men.  As  compared  with  the  Eoman 
government  as  Jesus  knew  it,  our  political  state 
is  pure  and  just.  Would  Jesus  be  content  with 
our  social  order,  granting  that  it  was  uncor- 
ruptly  managed,  and  that  its  full  logic  was  per- 
mitted to  work  itself  out! 

This  is  a  serious  question.  We  have  reviewed 
briefly  the  ethical  principles  of  Jesus  as  we 
understand  them.  We  admit  that  Jesus  was 
committed  to  no  political  program  and  to  no 
social  theory.  Could  he  take  our  social  order 
as  we  have  outlined  it,  and  as  it  is  defended  in 

62 


CHRISTIAN  ESTIMATE  OF  OUR  ORDER        63 

the  chief  works  on  classical  political  economy, 
and  make  of  it  a  basis  for  the  kingdom  of  God? 
We  take  it  as  axiomatic  that  so  long  as  we  call 
ourselves  Christians  we  want  to  do  what  he 
wanted  to  do,  and  that  we  pray  as  he  taught  us 
to  pray,  saying,  "Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  This 
seems  to-day  one  of  the  chief  weaknesses  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  all  its  branches,  that 
it  contents  itself  with  believing  things  about. 
Jesus,  but  does  not  take  pains  to. , "finish  his 
vrork."  After  nineteen  centuries  God's  king- 
dom has  not  yet  been  established  among  men, 
and  it  is  surely  our  fault.  Jesus  has  gone  from 
us,  but  said  to  us,  "Greater  works  than  these 
shall  ye  do,  because  I  go  unto  my  Father." 
The  works  that  Jesus  did  were,  we  confess,  re- 
demptive works.  Have  we  done  greater  re- 
demptive works  than  Jesus,  and  why  not? 

To  be  honest  with  ourselves  we  must  take 
up  the  teachings  of  Jesus  as  they  were  under- 
stood in  his  day,  and  apply  the  principles  he 
laid  down  to  our  social  order.  If  we  find  that 
they  coincide,  well  and  good,  but  if  they  disa- 
gree we  shall  have  to  ask  ourselves  whether 
we  can  transform  the  social  order,  or  shall  we 
give  up  Jesus,  or  shall  we  modify  his  teachings 
as  good  but  impracticable? 

It  may  be  granted  that  Jesus  would  have  had 
no  opinion  if  asked  about  our  great  factories 


64  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

and  mills.  They  could  not  have  dawned  upon 
the  human  intelligence  of  Jesus  in  Galilee.  Com- 
mercial industrialism  was  an  utterly  strange 
thing  to  the  age  of  the  CaBsars.  The  world  of 
that  day  was  desperately  poor  as  we  count 
riches.  Even  wealthy  men  had  no  such  com- 
forts as  we  deem  requisite  for  our  day;  and 
the  middle  and  poorer  classes  were  probably 
chronically  under-nourished,  and  in  sickness 
utterly  neglected  or  mistreated. 

When,  however,  we  add  the  word  "compet- 
itive" and  define  it  as  we  have  done  to  distin- 
guish it  from  emulation,  by  seeking  its  aim  in 
the  exclusion  or  subordination  of  your  com- 
petitor, one  asks  at  once,  Is  this  doing  to  others 
as  we  would  have  men  do  to  us?  Is  this  the 
way  loving  brothers  and  sisters  act  in  a  well- 
regulated  family  circle?  But  if  it  is  not,  then 
can  it  be  truly  Christian ;  that  is,  can  Jesus  build 
his  kingdom  upon  a  competitive  basis?  The 
family  circle  is  no  dead  level.  There  are  father 
and  mother,  elder  brothers  and  older  sisters, 
but  the  weak  are  not  exploited  in  the  interests 
of  the  stronger.  Indeed,  the  humanizing  effect 
of  weakness  in  the  family  has  often  been  pointed 
out.  The  little  cripple  is  gently  treated,  the 
younger  sisters  cared  for  and  petted,  and  the 
whole  family  life  is  softened  and  purified  by 
its  care  for  the  weaker  members.  And  this 
family  relation  is  for  Jesus  the  ideal.  Respect 


CHRISTIAN  ESTIMATE  OF  OUR  ORDER        65 

and  obedience  may  be  due  from  the  younger 
to  the  elder,  but  the  love  that  makes  the  father 
rush  out  to  the  prodigal  son  and  put  the  robe 
and  ring  on  him,  that  makes  the  little  child  the 
center  of  the  kingdom  group  and  that  makes 
God  Father,  is  a  love  that  forbids  all  exploita- 
tion of  another  in  simply  our  interest.  Com- 
mercial competition  could  not  be  the  atmosphere 
of  a  well-regulated  Christian  home,  and  the 
question  then  arises,  Can  it  be  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  Christian  state  or  the  kingdom 
of  God? 

The  subordination  of  other  men's  lives  and 
purposes  to  ours  in  the  form  of  slavery  we 
have  overcome.  We  found  it  demoralizing  both 
for  the  slave  and  the  slaveholder.  It  was  a 
long,  slow  process.  Economic  reasons  as  well 
as  religious  sentiment  and  moral  arguments 
finally  accomplished  the  task.  Slavery  stands 
condemned,  although  once  it  seemed  indispensa- 
ble, and  rooted  in  the  soil  as  an  institution.  Is 
not,  however,  the  demoralizing  element  any 
subordination  of  one  man's  purpose  to  another 
individual's?  Must  not  men  find  their  end 
either  in  themselves  or  a  kingdom  of  moral 
purposes  ?  This  is  a  question  which  raises  the 
whole  subject  of  such  competition  as  we  see 
going  on  all  about  us,  where  the  deliberate  ef- 
fort is  to  compel  men  to  cease  being  our  com- 
petitors and  to  become  our  dependents.  The 


66  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

bitter  competition  of  society  has  as  its  logical 
goal  a  subordination  that,  if  we  examine  it  as 
frankly  as  we  examined  slavery  in  the  North, 
will  surely  lead  us  to  wonder  how  we  could  take 
the  mote  out  of  our  brother's  eye  before  getting 
clear  vision  by  taking  the  beam  out  of  our  own 
eye. 

Paul  and  Jesus  recognize,  indeed,  the  inter- 
related society  of  any  advanced  people.  But 
the  model  of  these  interrelations  is  the  loving 
family  circle.  Some  are  leaders,  others  may 
be  born  for  followers,  but  exploiting  the  fol- 
lowers and  chaining  them  helplessly  to  the 
chariot  of  our  purpose  is  not  surely  according 
to  the  sweet  mind  of  Jesus,  and  a  society  whose 
fundamental  note  is  this  cannot  call  itself 
Christian. 

Even  the  prophetic  dream  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment had  risen  up  against  this  theory  of  per- 
manent dependence.  In  the  day  of  redemption 
men  were  to  sit  under  their  own  vine  and  fig 
trees,  and  some  were  not  to  build  that  others 
might  inhabit,  some  were  not  to  plant  that 
others  might  eat.  We  have  failed  to  realize 
that  vision.  Workingmen  build  palaces  into 
which  they  never  again  even  look;  they  plant 
pleasant  gardens  whose  fruit  they  never  touch. 
This  is  done  by  the  force  of  competition. 
Even  granting  that  the  working  class  are, 
as  a  rule,  less  competent  than  the  wealthy  own- 


CHRISTIAN  ESTIMATE  OF  OUR  ORDER        67 

ing  class,  this  according  to  Jesus  would  give 
no  excuse  for  exploitation. 

And  the  evil  is  that  exploitation  is  inevitable. 
The  small  shopkeeper  is  forced  out  of  business 
— perhaps  to  the  advantage  of  the  trade,  and 
even  to  his  own  temporary  advantage;  for  the 
great  combinations  have  generally  employed 
the  more  capable  competitors  whom  they  have 
forced  out,  and  often  on  generous  terms.  At 
the  same  time  he  is  now  dependent,  and  a  crowd 
of  applicants  for  the  place  sooner  or  later  re- 
duce the  wages  to  the  bare  living  point,  and  the 
exploitation  of  the  laborer  and  the  public  he 
serves  begins.  It  is  inherent  in  a  system  built 
upon  competition,  whose  goal  and  inner  mean- 
ing is  the  subordination  of  the  competitor  to 
your  purpose. 

In  the  family  there  must  be  a  measure  of 
emulation.  Rivalry  is  a  healthy  and  amusing 
stimulus.  To  try  to  do  things  better  than  they 
are  being  done,  to  do  them  better  than  your 
neighbor  does  them,  has  no  necessary  moral 
disadvantage.  It  may  not  always  be  the  highest 
motive,  but  life  is  on  different  moral  levels. 
The  games  of  children  and  the  healthy  recre- 
ations of  older  ones  reflect  the  sort  of  emula- 
tion that  has  only  stimulus  and  gain  for  both 
contestants.  We  cannot  all  do  all  things  better 
than  anybody  else.  But  we  can  all  find  our 
level  in  honest  emulation.  This  does  not,  how- 


68  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ever,  imply  that  because  we  cannot  do  all  things 
better  than  anyone  else,  therefore  our  life  is 
to  be  subordinated  to  the  individual  purpose  of 
gain  on  the  part  of  the  successful  competitor. 
It  is  this  feature  of  modern  competition  that  is 
making  commercial  defeat  so  fearfully  bitter, 
and  raising  up  an  increasing  army  of  discon- 
tented and  angry  disappointed  men. 

If  Jesus  would  surely  have  seen  in  modern 
competition  elements  distinctly  immoral,  what 
would  he  have  farther  said  to  the  postulate 
that  in  business  life  profits  are  the  stimulus  to 
action?  We  all  admit  that  profits  are  not  the 
only  stimulus  to  action,  but  it  is  distinctly 
claimed  that  in  business  the  nerve  is  "profits." 
Men  are  not,  we  are  told,  in  business  for  their 
health,  they  are  in  it  to  make  money. 

Perhaps  Jesus  did  not  mean  to  be  taken  lit- 
erally when  he  said, ' '  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  on  earth,"  but  he  certainly  said  it. 
It  may  be  that  Luke  overemphasizes  the  stress 
Jesus  laid  upon  personal  poverty,  but  even 
granting  that,  his  sayings  elsewhere  are  quite 
definite.  Not  that  Jesus  was  an  ascetic — far 
from  it.  Men  called  him  a  winebibber  and 
friend  of  publicans  and  sinners.  "We  find  him 
as  often  in  the  house  of  mirth  and  joy  as  in 
the  house  of  mourning,  and  he  did  not  even  ask 
that  his  disciples  fast  or  make  sad  faces.  Yet 
we  cannot  think  of  Jesus  making  profits  the 


CHRISTIAN  ESTIMATE  OF  OUR  ORDER        69 

main  stimulus  to  action,  and  he  expressly  sought 
to  substitute  another  principle.  Those  who 
lived  outside  his  realm  of  thought  might  do 
otherwise,  but  his  servants  were  to  make  serv- 
ice, and  not  profits,  the  stimulus  to  action. 
Here  again  Jesus  only  stands  on  the  common 
instinct  of  the  race  at  its  best.  Any  doctor,  or 
minister,  or  teacher  who  was  known  to  be  in  the 
business  simply  to  ''make  money"  would  be 
despised  and  distrusted ;  and  just  so  far  as  they 
are  even  suspected  of  it  they  are  rightly  con- 
demned. It  was  once  also  so  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession, before  it  was  debauched  and  prosti- 
tuted by  a  few  men  to  commercialism.  And 
even  now  from  time  to  time  the  profession  stirs 
itself  and  seeks  to  reach  a  higher  level. 

No  community  can,  however,  long  sustain  a 
double  standard  of  morality.  As  in  finance  the 
cheaper  metal  if  suffered  at  all  is  sure  to  drive 
out  the  dearer,  so  a  lower  morality  if  suffered 
at  all  will  supplant  the  higher.  The  Christian 
business  man  has  no  more  right  to  be  in  busi- 
ness for  profits  only  than  has  his  minister. 
Both  in  their  several  ways  are  simply  servants 
of  the  community,  and  are  there  to  serve  and 
not  to  exploit.  As  far,  indeed,  as  the  morality 
of  profits  has  had  the  sanction  of  organized 
Christianity,  it  has  come  in  to  commercialize 
and  demoralize  the  pulpit,  art,  literature,  edu- 
cation, and  the  home.  Ministers  and  baseball 


70  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

players  are  talked  about  as  "  ten- thousand-dol- 
lar men."  Newspapers  care  more  for  circula- 
tion and  profits  than  for  truth  and  influence. 
The  whole  of  our  education  is  more  or  less  un- 
sound because  the  educators  vacillate  vaguely 
between  trying  to  turn  out  moral  boys  and 
girls  and  successful  beasts  of  prey.  Everyone 
theoretically  denounces  "greed,"  but  the  man 
who  is  in  business  simply  to  make  profits,  even 
if  he  fail  lamentably,  as  we  are  told  seventy- 
five  per  cent  do,  is  in  it  for  greed. 

If  anyone  reply  that  you  can't  change  human 
nature,  then  the  question  arises,  Was  Jesus 
right  or  wrong?  It  does  not  make  the  slightest 
difference  to  the  TielirfroF  God  what  you  think 

cy.y-.,   .  i       jj^T^"'™ *"*•  "       •   '  ••••••••'• •****•  i  "  ' •  .*• •" 

of  the  divinity  of  our  Lord  if  at  these  essential 
points  you  have  no  faith  in  his  teachings.  Many 
are  going  to  call  him  "Lord,  Lord"  wliom  he 
will  disown  because  he  came  only  to  minister. 
and  they  lived  for  profits — which  they  then 
often  did  not  get. 

Nor  is  the  reply  a  sufficient  one  that  you 
cannot  change  the  matter  until  you  change  the 
social  order,  for  Jesus  lived  in  a  social 
order  he  expected  to  change,  and  to  change 
it  with  dramatic  and  swift  suddenness.  There 
is  no  more  revolutionary  literature  in  the 
world  than  Mark  13,  Matthew  24,  and  Luke 
17.  20-37.  We  are  sent  to  proclaim  a  new  social 
order  which  Jesus  called  the  kingdom  of  God 


CHRISTIAN  ESTIMATE  OF  OUR  ORDER        71 

on  earth.   He  died  but  left  the  work  to  us ;  doing 
that  work  is  the  Christian  life. 

Nor  can  we  really  believe  that  Jesus  would 
be  contented  with  the  goal  of  the  commercial 
struggle.  It  is  confessedly  for  possession  of 
the  productive  opportunity  and  the  machinery 
of  production.  Dear  to  the  heart  of  the  whole 
social  order  is  the  private  possession  of  rail- 
roads, mines,  oil  wells,  quarries,  land,  etc.  Life 
is  cheap.  Any  legislation  that  seeks  to  protect 
children  and  women  is  scanned  suspiciously, 
but  any  laws  to  protect  property  cannot  be 
made  too  severe.  No  heresy  is  quite  so  black  as 
any  doubt  thrown  upon  the  uttermost  sanctity 
of  property.  And  the  property  that  is  sought 
is  the  revenue-producing  property.  This  only 
is  real  wealth.  Jesus  himself  had  no  such  prop- 
erty, but  he  was  evidently  only  opposed  to  it 
when  made  the  goal,  or  when  it  interfered  with 
our  interest  in  a  kingdom  of  God  which  he  was 
trying  to  establish.  The  rich  young  man  was 
told  to  sell  all  and  follow  Jesus,  but  the  beloved 
disciple  had  a  house  in  Jerusalem,  it  seems,  and 
was  fairly  prosperous.  It  was  not  a  dead  level 
of  primitive  communism  that  Jesus  seems  to 
have  looked  for,  but  a  new  social  order  entirely 
transformed  in  the  very  motives  of  its  life,  in 
the  very  inwardness  of  its  organization.  It  is 
not  possession,  but  the  desire  of  that  possession 
which  gives  us  power  over  our  fellow  men, 


72  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

which  has  in  it  the  seeds  of  corruption.  And 
this  desire  is  very  subtle.  A  man  does  not  need 
to  be  rich  to  be  corrupted  by  it.  Indeed,  per- 
haps, the  poor  man  is  exposed  to  the  longings 
for  it  even  more  than  the  prosperous  one. 

Thus  the  follower  of  Jesus  finds  himself,  like 
Jesus,  living  in  a  social  order  whose  inward 
spirit  no  more  reflects  the  teachings  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  than  did  the  social  order  which 
put  Jesus  to  death,  and  yet  we  call  it  Christian. 
Because  it  is  superficially  Christianized,  and  be- 
cause many  Christians  live  in  it,  and  see  no 
such  contradictions  in  it  as  seem  to  stare  us  in 
the  face,  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  goes  on  in 
sometimes  quite  deadly  compromise  with  all 
the  things  the  soul  of  Jesus  hated.  This  raises 
most  serious  and  pressing  questions.  To-day 
as  never  before  men  are  troubled  by  the  contra- 
dictions of  life.  Many  a  man  says,  "I  can't  do 
business  and  be  a  Christian."  He  is  possibly 
wrong,  but  he  feels  the  weight  of  the  social 
order  pressing  upon  him.  He  feels  compelled 
to  face  the  various  proposed  social  solutions 
we  have  to  briefly  survey  in  hope  of  relief.  And 
to  the  task  now  of  asking  what  are  the  ethical 
and  Christian  elements  in  these  proposals  we 
must  turn. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  AND  A  SOCIAL  PROGRAM 

BEFORE  even  discussing  the  relation  of  the 
Christian  Church  to  a  social  program  we  must 
decide  in  our  own  minds  what  we  mean  by  the 
Church.  The  Roman  Catholic  conception  was 
a  definite  one  in  its  main  outlines.  From 
Cyprian  on  the  Church  was  an  institution, 
governed  by  a  hierarchy,  to  which  the  word  and 
sacraments  and  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell 
were  committed.  It  was  thus  an  ark  of  safety 
into  which  men  and  women  were  called  for  the 
saving  of  their  souls.  But  it  was  also  God's 
supreme  authority,  so  that  even  kings  and 
states  ruled  subject  in  the  last  analysis  to  the 
authority  of  the  supreme  Head  of  the  Church. 

The  Reformers  differed  somewhat  widely  in 
their  definition  of  the  Church,  but  agreed  that 
to  it  were  committed  "the  pure  word  and  the 
sacraments"  and  they  were  unsatisfactory  and 
indefinite  in  the  extreme  as  to  the  function  of 
the  Church.  It  was  only  when  John  Wesley 
awoke  from  his  dogmatic  and  ecclesiastical 
slumbers,  and  adapted  German  pietism  to 
the  needs  of  England,  that  a  new  and  really 
Protestant  definition  of  the  Church  became  pos- 

73 


74  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

sible.  No  service  that  John  Wesley  rendered 
to  our  common  Protestantism  was  greater  than 
his  real  reform  of  the  conception  of  the  Church. 
He  practically  swept  away  the  offensive  aris- 
tocratic hierarchical  conception.  Bishops  be- 
came the  chief  administrative  servants  of  the 
Church;  elders,  the  experienced  elder  brothers. 
The  functions  of  the  minister  were  not  priestly, 
save  as  all  Christians  are  kings  and  priests 
unto  God,  but  prophetic,  and  even  here  they  had 
no  monopoly  but  only  leading  responsibility. 
Then,  again,  he  restored  the  democracy,  and 
even  extended  it  to  women.  Nothing  could  be 
more  attractive  than  George  Eliot's  picture  of 
Dinah  in  "Adam  Bede,"  and  it  is  to  this  Metho- 
dist freedom  that  the  world  owes  the  life  of 
Catherine  Booth.  And  most  important  of  all, 
the  Church  ceased  to  be  an  ark  of  salvation, 
and  became  for  Wesley  an  institution  for  prop- 
aganda in  the  thoroughly  Pauline  sense.  The 
class  meeting  was  not  simply  a  place  where 
people  held  up  looking-glasses  to  their  souls 
and  arranged  their  own  spiritual  toilet,  it  was  a 
training  ground  for  young  Christians,  where 
having  faced  the  world  in  battle  for  the  gospel 
they  could  be  trained,  consoled,  inspired,  and 
directed  by  veterans  in  the  warfare.  For  this 
reason  Wesley  had  no  such  scruples  about  the 
Methodists  going  their  own  way  as  had  his 
brother  Charles,  and  it  was  at  this  point  that 


THE  CHURCH  AND  A  SOCIAL  PROGRAM       75 

Wesley  really  most  seriously  differed  with 
High  Calvinism  and  as  over  against  it  was 
essentially  in  the  right.  The  High  Calvinistic 
doctrine  of  the  Church  is  much  more  Eoman 
Catholic  than  biblical,  and  needed  greatly  the 
evangelical  revival. 

There  is  no  room,  therefore,  in  a  biblical  and 
evangelical  doctrine  of  the  Church  for  arro- 
gant pretensions  to  be  an  imperial  hierarchy. 
We  are  servants  of  the  community.  We  are 
in  the  communal  life  to  redeem  it  by  service, 
and  by  any  service  and  all  service  that  we  can 
render  it;  so  John  Wesley,  England's  most 
learned  fellow,  taught  little  dirty  street  gamins 
their  A,  B,  C's  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  We 
have  no  claim  to  usurp  the  function  of  the 
state.  We  do  wish  to  convert  the  state  and 
regenerate  it  by  the  indwelling  love  of  God,  but 
we  have  no  business  to  rule  it  or  to  dictate  to 
it.  Indeed,  there  are  a  thousand  questions  it 
not  only  must  settle,  but  can  alone  settle.  The 
social  order  and  the  political  state  are  not  now 
Christian,  and  never  have  been  really  Chris- 
tian, even  when  calling  themselves  so.  At  the 
same  time,  the  simple  political  mastery  of  the 
state  by  the  Church  will  not  make  the  state 
Christian.  The  Papacy  tried  that,  and  we  now 
know  with  what  tragic  measure  of  failure.  If 
the  state  is  to  become  Christian  it  must  become 
so  by  adopting  the  loving,  redeeming  life  of 


70  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Jesus  as  the  inspiration  of  all  its  activities.  It 
must  be  ready  to  die  the  Messianic  death,  if 
need  be,  as  did  the  Waldensian  Church  in  the 
ages  past.  As  yet  no  political  state  and  no 
social  order  has  really  even  sought  to  try  Jesus 
and  his  teachings  seriously.  And  we  do  not 
know  what  would  happen  if  one  did.  The  first 
one  might,  perhaps,  have  to  die.  Perhaps  in 
such  a  state  the  only  function  of  the  Church 
would  then  be  common,  communal  worship. 

At  present  the  function  of  the  Church  is 
proclamation  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus 
and  service  in  his  name.  We  are  to  seek  the 
reorganization  of  life  on  a  really  religious  basis. 
We  proclaim  faith  in  God  and  man  and  in  the 
coming  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  For  our 
work  is  immediately  here  and  now. 

For  thousands  of  people  the  only  vision  of 
God  is  the  life  about  them.  They  may  have 
heard  about  Jesus,  but  he  is  as  unreal  to  them 
as  Aristotle  or  Buddha.  Only  when  Jesus  is 
seen  in  some  life  does  he  become  a  reality.  The 
mission  of  Christianity  is  to  make  God  visible 
to  men  who  can  believe  only  when  they  see. 
This  main  mission  of  the  Church  must  be  car- 
ried out  by  activity  along  all  sorts  of  lines.  We 
have  already  spoken  about  the  ministry  of  the 
Mediaeval  Church  in  the  way  of  art  and  music 
to  the  life  of  the  race.  The  beauty  of  holiness 
is  a  very  real  revelation  of  God,  and  glorious 


THE  CHURCH  AND  A  SOCIAL  PROGRAM       77 

cathedrals,  music,  and  paintings  were  no  mean 
contribution  to  life.  The  difficulty  was  rather 
with  the  conception  of  God  that  underlay 
mediaeval  art  than  with  attempting  to  give  it 
art  expression.  Puritanism  reacted  far  too 
strongly  at  this  point,  and  has  left  some  of  us 
a  little  starved  on  this  side  of  our  lives.  We 
think  we  must  have  our  visions  of  God  in  in- 
tellectual syllogisms  rather  than  in  artistic 
symbolism. 

„  There  is,  of  course,  always  a  large  mission  for 
the  Church  in  constantly  rationalizing  and  ex- 
plaining and  defending  her  faith  in  a  living 
God.  Here  the  whole  intellectual  powers  of 
trained  men  are  needed.  Their  work  is,  like  all 
scientific  work,  always  tentative.  The  apology 
of  one  generation  does  not  answer  the  doubts 
of  another,  and  if  pressed  becomes  unreal  dog- 
matism. The  old  personal  experience  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus  needs  new  theological  formulae 
to  make  it  real  and  vital  to  a  generation  that 
thinks  in  new  phrases  and  new  modes  of  ex- 
pression. 

Nor  can  the  Church  be  content  with  any  social 
order  short  of  the  absolute  family  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  with  none  left  out.  To  gain  her 
end  she  must  work,  sacrifice,  do  and  dare.  She 
will  colabor  also  with  every  agency  that  seems 
to. promise  the  uplift  and  purification  of  life. 
Those  that  are  not  against  her  are  on  her  part. 


78  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

But  exactly  as  her  art  and  her  dogmas  are 
tentative  and  often  passing  expressions  of  her 
life,  and  must  never  be  identified  with  the  in- 
wardness of  her  faith,  so  any  political  program 
can  only  be  a  very  tentative  expression  of  her 
faith  in  the  coming  kingdom.  She  dare  not 
identify  her  message  too  closely  with  any  po- 
litical program.  Her  ministers  may  personally 
be  warm  believers  in  single  tax  or  socialism,  in 
democracy  or  republicanism  or  in  anarchy,  and 
they  would  do  well,  now  and  then,  to  strongly 
assert  their  liberty  as  good  citizens  to  absolute 
freedom  in  their  political  and  social  thinking. 
At  the  same  time,  they  are  preaching  to  men  of 
good  will  and  as  eager  citizens  of  the  kingdom 
as  they  are,  who  cannot  identify  the  kingdom  of 
God  with  any  such  particular  political  program, 
and  who  can  with  perfect  truth  say  Jesus  never 
taught  a  political  program.  To  tell  a  man  he 
can  only  be  Christian  if  he  becomes  a  socialist, 
or  votes  for  free  trade,  or  advocates  abolition,  or 
stands  for  prohibition,  is  false  to  the  facts  of 
history.  Many  good  Christians  could  not  see 
eye  to  eye  with  brethren  as  good  as  they,  and  as 
earnest  along  their  lines  for  a  transformation 
of  life  into  the  image  of  God. 

Prohibition  may  some  day  be  as  universal  as 
abolition,  socialism  may  some  day  be  the  new 
social  order,  single  tax  may  some  day  triumph ; 
but  the  really  thoughtful  Christian  man  will 


THE  CHURCH  AND  A  SOCIAL  PROGRAM       79 

feel  that  even  if  any  one  of  these  things  is  his 
favorite  political  program,  he  might  thinkably 
get  it  and  find  the  kingdom  of  God  yet  a  long 
way  off.  We  have  abolition ;  are  we  yet  Chris- 
tian? We  have  communities  where  prohibition 
is  not  only  law,  but  observed  law;  but  are  they 
fully  Christian? 

Any  and  all  political  programs  are  at  best 
but  means  to  our  end.  We  dare  not  at  the  peril 
of  the  Church's  highest  life  substitute  any  po- 
litical program  for  her  highest  ideal.  That  is 
just  what  Gregory  the  Great  did.  In  all  sin- 
cerity he  supposed  that  when  the  papal  claims 
to  rule  the  world  were  actually  acknowledged 
the  world  would  be  then  at  last  "  Christian. " 
And  what  a  mess  the  imperial  hierarchy  made 
of  their  world  when  it  was  gotten.  The  world 
has  never  quite  recovered  from  the  fearful  dis- 
appointment, and  even  now  still  distrusts  the 
Church  with  her  sad  and  troubled  record  of 
mischievous  political  meddling.  And  our  po- 
litical meddling  to  sustain  the  existing  social 
order  may  be  as  unwise  and  mischievous  med- 
dling as  trying  to  introduce  some  new  political 
program.  Many  a  good  Christian  man  thinks 
he  is  "conservative"  and  "safe"  when  he  shuts 
his  eyes  to  the  rottenness  around  him  and  cries 
out,  "All  is  well,"  and  gives  his  energies  to 
maintaining  things  as  they  are  and  stopping  all 
changes.  Was  there  ever  a  more  dangerous 


80  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS  IN  THE 

destroyer  of  real  values  than  the  Russian  min- 
ister of  culture,  Pobiedonosszew?  For  every 
man  has  some  political  program,  even  if  it  is 
only  letting  others  do  the  job,  and  he  sitting  by 
and  criticising.  He  has  some  political  ideal, 
however  feeble,  and  when  he  insists  that  the 
Church  take  the  same  feeble  attitude  and 
weakly  become  the  prop  of  the  existing  order, 
he  is  sinning  against  her  as  much  as  when  the 
socialist  tries  to  make  her  his  tool  for  his  par- 
ticular brand  of  political  program. 

Every  Christian  man  should  be  up  and  at  it, 
trying  to  transform  life  into  the  image  of  God. 
And  the  Church  of  God  should  inspire  and  aid 
every  honest  man  in  his  fierce  fight  for  right- 
eousness, fair  dealing,  truth,  and  brotherhood. 
But  each  man  must  alone  be  responsible  to  his 
God  for  the  particular  judgments  he  forms 
as  to  the  political  program  immediately  neces- 
sary to  make  God's  will  as  effective  here  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  The  identification  of 
the  kingdom  with  our  conception  of  the  king- 
dom is  exceedingly  foolish.  "We  may  see 
clearly,  or  think  we  see  clearly,  the  next  step. 
We  cannot  possibly  see  much  beyond  the  next 
step,  and  must  leave  other  generations  to  work 
out  their  own  questions.  Where  chattel  slavery 
existed  we  now  see  clearly  that  the  next  step 
was  abolition.  Yet  even  to-day  good  Christian 
men  could  not  unite  in  saying  by  what  political 


THE  CHURCH  AND  A  SOCIAL  PROGRAM       81 

steps  that  had  been  best  brought  about.  The 
actual  way  was  so  fearfully  costly,  bloody,  and 
demoralizing  that,  glad  as  one  must  be  that  it 
led  to  liberty,  the  American  who  boasts  of  re- 
publican institutions  must  hang  his  head  in 
shame  that  a  war  between  brothers,  costing  a 
million  lives  and  untold  moral  values,  was  the 
only  way  we  found  to  do  what  Russia  did  with 
a  stroke  of  the  pen,  and  what  England  did  with 
a  bank  check. 

It  might  be  disastrous  for  the  Christian 
Church  to  commit  herself  to  any  social  order 
as  the  kingdom  order,  for  no  matter  what  im- 
provement it  might  be  upon  the  older  order  as 
compared  with  some  future  order,  it  might 
prove  profoundly  defective.  This,  again,  is  the 
real  weakness  of  Romanism.  It  is  really  in 
its  inward  spirit  identified  with  paternal  feudal- 
ism. It  has  no  faith  in  the  common  man,  who  is 
always  a  child  of  Mother  Church  whose  chief 
virtue  is  submission  to  overlordship.  This  is 
the  danger  that  confronts  Protestantism.  "We 
may  be  so  linked  with  the  existing  competitive 
industrialism  that  if  it  should  pass  away  Prot- 
estantism would  pass  away  with  it,  and  as 
Protestantism  has  risen  on  the  wrecks  of  feudal- 
ism, another  religious  expression  would  rise  on 
the  wrecks  of  bourgeois  competitive  industrial- 
ism. 

If  this  should  be  the  case,  however,  it  is  be- 


82  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS  IN  THE 

cause  Protestantism  has  proved  false  to  her 
cardinal  Pauline  teaching  of  the  freedom  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus  and  the  moral  autonomy  of 
the  Son  of  God.  We  are  sons  not  of  feudalism, 
nor  of  bourgeoise  commercialism,  nor  yet  of 
competitive  industrialism;  we  are  sons  of  the 
kingdom,  and  must  keep  our  kingdom  ideals 
pure  and  high  and  untouched  by  all  entangling 
alliances  with  lower  ideals.  We  are  not  sons 
of  any  political  program,  but  of  God's  king- 
dom of  loving  justice. 

For  this  very  reason,  however,  we  must  have 
political  programs  and  be  in  earnest  about  them 
as  the  next  step  to  the  kingdom.  We  cannot 
give  the  task  up,  nor  can  we  abandon  the  world 
to  its  present  state.  Each  man  should  with  all 
the  intelligence  at  his  disposal  weigh  the  vari- 
ous social  programs  proposed,  and  eagerly  seek 
to  realize  his  program  and  gain  others  for  it. 
If  he  thinks  free  trade  the  next  step  he  should 
give  himself  heart  and  soul  to  free  trade,  cost 
what  it  may.  It  may  hurt  his  business  and 
alienate  business  friends.  He  is  not  seeking 
his  personal  profit,  and  is  unchristian  if  he 
settles  the  question  on  that  basis ;  he  is  seeking 
loving  justice  and  thinks  high  protection  or 
free  trade,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  next  step  to 
it.  The  man  who  votes  for  free  trade  or  high 
protection  simply  because  it  helps  his  business 
is  animated  by  exactly  the  same  selfish  spirit 


THE  CHURCH  AND  A  SOCIAL  PROGRAM       83 

that  leads  an  alderman  to  accept  a  bribe.  How 
it  affects  him  is  only  an  index  to  the  larger 
and  more  vital  question,  How  does  it  affect  the 
communal  mother  ?  and  on  this  basis  alone  must 
he  answer  his  question.  In  the  same  way  he 
may  see  in  single  tax  or  socialism  the  way  out 
of  Egypt  into  the  promised  land.  Let  every 
man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  Then 
let  him  bring  his  political  program  into  touch 
with  his  religious  enthusiasm,  and  it  can  be- 
come the  expression  of  his  religious  life  in  the 
fullest  manner. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  KINGDOM  DREAM 

No  effort  of  the  imagination  is  more  inevita- 
ble and  more  unsatisfactory  than  the  attempt 
to  think  what  the  future  order  will  be,  whether 
in  heaven  or  on  earth.  The  heaven  that  satis- 
fies the  child  seems  to  the  adult  hopelessly 
barren  and  unattractive,  and  the  heaven  of 
so  much  of  our  preaching  seems  to  a  healthy 
boy  or  girl  a  place  to  be  carefully  avoided.  A 
social  order  that  would  satisfy  one  man  seems 
dreary  and  wearisome  to  another.  Well  does 
the  writer  remember  the  impression  made  upon 
him  by  Bellamy's  "Looking  Backward."  It 
almost  reconciled  him  to  the  existing  confusion, 
which  in  contrast  seemed  so  much  more  pic- 
turesque than  Bellamy's  mechanical  French 
garden.  And  yet  that  book  proved  the  social 
awakening  of  many  thousands.  Such  efforts 
must  always  take  the  character  of  day-dreams, 
changing  and  growing  with  the  dreaming  mind. 
Any  portrayal  of  either  a  future  heaven  or  a 
social  order  on  earth  is  exposed  to  two  dangers. 
It  will  be,  on  the  one  hand,  exceedingly  unat- 
tractive to  another  frame  of  mind,  or,  on  the 
other,  fills  us  only  with  restless  and  weary  dis- 

84 


THE  KINGDOM  DREAM  85 

satisfaction  with  our  daily  world  in  which  God 
expects  us  to  work  cheerfully  and  strongly. 

While  this  is  so  it  is  equally  inevitable  that 
we  live,  as  Christians,  in  a  future  world  order 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  In  a  certain 
very  real  sense  a  true  Christian  must  be 
"other-worldly."  He  cannot  be  true  to  the 
ideals  of  Jesus  and  not  look  eagerly  forward 
to  a  coming  kingdom,  and  what  we  look  forward 
to  must  to  some  extent  satisfy  our  imagination, 
and  must  be  more  or  less  definite  and  concrete. 
The  full  force  of  Paul's  demand  that  we  be  not 
fashioned  according  to  this  world,  but  that  we 
be  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  our  minds, 
has  often  been  broken  by  forgetting  that  last 
clause.  We  must  gain  the  social  mind.  We 
must  be  transformed  from  our  narrow  indi- 
vidualism, or  limited  sympathy  with  our  own 
little  group,  whether  it  be  the  family  group 
or  an  ecclesiastical  or  even  national  group,  and 
we  must  in  spirit  become  members  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  on  earth,  embracing  all  men  in  the 
future  world  order.  This  social  mind  cannot 
be  gotten  out  of  mere  negations.  Nor  can  it  be 
gained  at  all  if  we  are  too  much  fashioned  ac- 
cording to  this  world  order.  It  is  not  in  super- 
ficial externals  that  conformity  to  the  existent 
order  most  reveals  itself.  It  may,  indeed,  be, 
for  a  Christian,  very  proper  to  abstain  from 
certain  kinds  of  amusements  and  certain  ways 


86  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

of  acting  and  dressing,  but  unless  they  are  the 
signs  of  transformed  mind  they  amount  to  but 
little.  Our  daydreams  will  depend  in  their  very 
quality  upon  the  stage  of  our  intellectual  and 
moral  growth.  Their  character  will  largely  be 
determined  by  the  inmost  wish,  the  transformed 
mind. 

As  nearly  all  morality  begins  by  inhibition, 
"Thou  shalt  not,"  so  our  social  dream  mostly 
begins  by  destructive  criticism  of  the  things 
that  have  grown  hateful  to  us.  And  among  the 
first  of  these  is  any  economic  dependence  of  one 
adult  individual  upon  another.  The  dependence 
of  one  upon  the  group  is  not  demoralizing,  be- 
cause all  are  in  like  manner  dependent.  But 
as  Aristotle  saw  that  the  highest  manhood  was 
not  open  to  the  slave  class,  so  the  highest  moral 
development  is  imperiled  by  any  and  all  eco- 
nomic dependence  of  one  adult  upon  another. 
This  is  the  reason  why  organized  labor  is  evolv- 
ing a  new  morality  of  which  the  employing  class 
knows  little,  and  with  which  it  can  have  no 
sympathy.  The  "slavery,"  as  the  employing 
class  sees  it,  of  the  man  in  his  union  seems  to 
the  employer  more  galling  than  the  unrestricted 
wage  bargaining.  In  point  of  fact  this  is  not 
so.  The  dependence  of  all  in  a  group  relation 
upon  all  has  a  very  different  morale  from  the 
dependence  of  one  upon  an  individual.  The 
enforcement  of  trade-union  rules  is  like  the 


THE  KINGDOM  DREAM  87 

enforcement  of  house  rules  at  a  club,  which  may 
be  ever  so  absurd  but  are  made  by  all,  and  are 
thus  part  of  a  self-respecting  moral  autonomy, 
even  if  the  exercise  of  the  power  is  almost 
nominal.  A  famous  club  in  New  York  still  for- 
bids card-playing  in  its  rooms,  a  restriction 
which  would  drive  two-thirds  of  its  members 
out  if  made  by  one  individual  for  the  good 
of  the  rest,  even  if  they  realized  that  it  was  for 
their  good.  Even  God  gives  the  adult  the 
chance  to  sin  and  take  the  consequences,  and 
thus  makes  men,  and  not  puppets,  of  us. 

How  economic  equality  is  to  be  obtained  is 
a  social  and  political  question.  There  is,  how- 
ever, little  doubt  that  in  the  dream  of  the  king- 
dom economic  equality  will  be  the  basis  for  a 
far  nobler  and  fuller  ethical  life  than  is  now 
possible  to  the  average  man,  even  though  he  be 
a  very  highly  paid  wage-worker  and  compara- 
tively little  dependent  upon  any  individual. 
The  easy,  arrogant  assurance  of  the  owning, 
ruling  class  marks  their  economic  independence, 
but  is  itself  a  sign  of  the  corruption  caused  by 
arbitrary  order-giving  and  relatively  irrespon- 
sible exercise  of  power.  Economic  pride  and 
economic  humility  are  alike  distasteful  to  the 
well-regulated  mind,  and  the  kingdom  dream 
will  somehow  get  rid  of  both.  The  nobler  ethics 
of  the  family  relation,  with  its  sense  of  loving 
dependence  of  all  upon  all,  furnished  to  Christ 


88  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Jesus  his  basis  for  kingdom  dreaming,  and  per- 
haps we  can  go  no  farther. 

The  kingdom  dream  must  surely,  if  true  to 
Jesus,  think  of  life  as  very  differently  motived 
from  the  present.  The  desire  to  gain  freedom 
for  oneself  and  potential  mastery  over  others 
by  private  possession  of  the  productive  machin- 
ery and  the  industrial  opportunity  is  confess- 
edly not  a  Christian  motive.  Even  those  who 
defend  the  existing  order  claim  that  they  serve 
and,  no  doubt,  the  claim  is  in  many  cases  justi- 
fied by  the  facts.  Many  a  rich  man  has  been 
the  most  useful  servant  of  his  generation — but 
also  its  master,  and  in  so  far  he  is  all  too  often 
corrupted  by  mastery  and  corrupts  even  those 
whom  he  longs  to  serve.  One  cannot  read 
Marcus  Aurelius  without  feeling  that  this  had 
half  dawned  upon  him,  and  flung  over  his  life 
that  shade  of  melancholy  and  helplessness  so 
impressive  in  the  writings  of  the  Eoman  world's 
best  and  most  powerful  hero.  In  the  kingdom 
dream  God  is  the  chief  servant  of  his  own  uni- 
verse, sending  the  rain  upon  the  just  and  upon 
the  unjust,  and  respecting  the  moral  autonomy 
of  his  children  whom  he  has  trained  through  the 
long  ages  to  be,  not  his  vassals  nor  his  wage 
servants,  but  his  sons  and  friends.  Abraham 
was  the  friend  of  God,  and  Jesus  called  his  dis- 
ciples friends.  Seeing  him  we  shall  be  like  him, 
for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  The  servant 


THE  KINGDOM  DREAM  89 

knows  not  what  his  lord  does,  but  to  us  in  the 
kingdom  dream  science,  philosophy,  and  the- 
ology will  have  shown  us  the  way  God  works. 
We  shall  know  what  our  Father  is  doing. 

Service  will  thoroughly  reorganize  human  life 
and  be  its  motive  as  it  is  God's  motive.  He  that 
is  greatest  among  us  will  be,  like  Lincoln,  the 
community's  chief est,  humblest  servant.  The 
kingdom  dream  scorns  the  atheism  that  says, 
"You  can't  change  human  nature,"  for  it  has 
seen  the  future  son  of  man  in  Christ  Jesus 
and  really  believes  on  him.  All  the  professed 
faith  in  unselfishness  will  become  a  reality,  and 
as  love  begets  love,  so  service  will  and  does  even 
now  beget  service,  and  the  emulation  in  service 
will,  in  the  kingdom  dream,  take  the  place  of 
the  present  hybrid  springs  of  action.  Even 
now  it  is  a  hideous  mistake  to  suppose  that  life 
is  really  kept  agoing  by  the  competitive  strug- 
gle for  the  producing  machinery.  All  the  best 
in  us  revolts  at  the  thought.  A  clergyman  gets 
a  check  for  preaching,  but  if  the  congregation 
supposed  that  that  was  the  only  reason  he 
preached,  how  much  good  would  the  sermon  do  ? 

The  kingdom  dream  sees  love  functioning  as 
never  before.  To-day  private  ownership  of  the 
producing  machinery  is  such  a  prize  that  over 
a  rich  man's  grave  the  relatives  often  begin 
the  deadly,  hateful  disputes  that  have  become 
proverbial.  A  whole  circle  has  waited  in  hungry 


90  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

dependence  for  access  to  the  "wealth,"  that  is, 
control  of  the  access  to  the  industrial  oppor- 
tunities that  mean  wealth.  Now,  at  the  rich 
man's  death  this  access  is  to  be  distributed,  and 
the  indecent  eagerness  of  the  relatives  is  the 
theme  of  song  and  jest!  While  we  recognize 
the  fact  that  love  functions  in  life,  and  should 
organize  it  as  a  whole,  to-day  our  age  is  a  prop- 
erty-organized age,  and  love's  power  is  strictly 
limited.  The  young  man  must  marry  "pru- 
dently"; that  means  he  must  marry  property. 
The  young  girl  is  congratulated  on  "a  good 
alliance";  that  means,  again,  a  young  man  of 
property.  "Above"  or  "below"  social  station 
really  means  a  relation  to  economic  efficiency 
represented  by  a  certain  control  of  industrial 
opportunity.  This  whole  conception  does  not 
fit  in  with  the  kingdom  dream  of  Jesus.  The 
economic  side  and  political  difficulties  he  left  to 
us  to  settle,  but  he  saw  love  organizing  the 
whole  of  life.  We  were  to  love  our  neighbors 
as  ourselves,  and  every  man  in  need  was  our 
neighbor.  This  conception  excludes  all  coercion 
of  a  loveless  kind  from  the  kingdom  dream.  All 
passionate  revenge  and  all  rude  force  are 
barred  by  the  thought  of  mankind  living  in  the 
relationship  of  a  well-regulated  loving  family. 
There  is,  therefore,  here  no  place  for  war.  Even 
nationality  has  no  lines  of  serious  separation, 
and  men  are  all  members  one  of  another. 


THE  KINGDOM  DREAM  91 

The  object  of  activity  will  not  be  profits,  but 
life.  And  by  life  will  be  meant  the  fullness  of 
life — self-expression,  group-expression,  family- 
expression  in  art,  in  worship,  and  in  the  re- 
ligion of  daily  service.  At  present  these  are 
but  adjuncts  to  a  hard  nervous  struggle,  and 
even  then  generally  commercialized  and  de- 
graded in  the  process.  Just  as  the  minister  has 
hard  work  to  keep  the  pew  rentals  from  con- 
trolling his  activity  and  degrading  it,  so  the 
artist  must  be  a  man  of  singular  faith  and  gen- 
ius who  does  not  make  concessions  to  the 
wretchedly  low  commercial  standards  of  the  day. 
In  the  kingdom  dream  at  last  the  religious  man 
and  the  artist  can  really  express  themselves, 
and  give  us  God  and  Nature  as  only  supreme 
religious  and  artistic  genius  can  see  them.  The 
world  is  waiting  and  longing  for  such  revela- 
tions, and  in  the  kingdom  dream  they  will  come. 
When  the  Spirit  of  Truth  is  come  he  will  lead 
us  into  all  truth.  There  will  be  no  longer  dreary 
doubt  as  to  whether  life  even  at  its  best  is  worth 
our  while ;  there  will  be  no  hard,  bitter  struggle 
to  really  believe  that  a  good  God  exists ;  there 
will  be  no  more  weary  waiting  for  long-delayed 
and  satisfying  visions  of  mercy  and  justice.  We 
shall  be  in  deed  and  in  truth  colaborers  with 
God  in  making  him  visible  in  the  just  and  lov- 
ing relations  of  the  redeemed  and  glorified 
life. 


92  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

The  kingdom  dream  of  Jesus  moved  mainly 
in  the  region  of  the  religious  and  ethical  life. 
At  the  same  time,  the  material  world  will  reflect 
the  new  life  and  new  hope,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  this  new  economic  world  will  give  new 
hope  and  courage  to  all  who  are  weak  and 
oppressed.  Our  cities  will  really  become  places 
God  can  dwell  in,  fitted  to  be  called  his  temple. 
There  is  little  use  in  picturing  simply  the  ma- 
terial side  of  the  kingdom  dream,  partly  because 
that  is  what  is  most  often  attempted,  but  more 
especially  because  of  the  confidence  that  there 
can  be  no  wide  separation  between  the  spiritual 
and  the  material.  They  are  aspects  of  a  funda- 
mental unity.  The  brothel  and  saloon,  the 
gambling  hole  and  the  dive,  are  the  outward 
and  visible  sign  of  the  inward  and  invisible 
corruption  of  our  whole  social  order.  The 
fresh  air  of  economic  freedom  would  slay  these 
parasitic  growths,  as  sunlight  kills  the  disease 
germ.  Men  do  not  willingly  go  into  disreputa- 
ble callings.  They  are  forced  into  them  by  eco- 
nomic pressure,  and  naturally  it  is  the  weaker 
and  less  moral  man  who  surrenders  to  the  pres- 
sure. The  kingdom  dream  sees  the  body  politic 
robbed  of  none  of  its  dignity  and  glory  by  the 
prostitution  of  its  service  for  gain  and  place. 
Politics  will  become  sacred  and  worshipful. 
Men  and  women  will  give  themselves  to  this 
service  with  the  devotion  and  patriotism  with 


THE  KINGDOM  DREAM  93 

which  men  enlist  now  for  war  and  women  offer 
themselves  for  nursing  on  the  battlefield. 

The  most  fearful  blots  upon  our  social  order, 
the  prostitution  of  women  and  the  exploitation 
of  little  children,  will  give  way  to  the  care  of 
motherhood  and  the  guardianship  of  the  child 
as  the  most  holy  tasks  intrusted  to  the  com- 
munity. This  dream  is  our  inspiration  to  under- 
take concrete  action  for  its  realization.  Each 
man  may  do  something,  but  to  do  the  best  he 
can  demands  study,  thought,  and  quickened 
social  intelligence.  The  day  is  past  when  gen- 
eral happy-go-lucky  kindliness  can  be  accepted 
as  a  substitute  for  really  intelligent  social  serv- 
ice. The  stupid  good  humor  of  Mr.  Pickwick, 
even  if  spread  over  the  whole  population,  would 
give  us  neither  the  social  mind  nor  the  social 
efficiency  the  kingdom  dream  demands. 

This  dream  sees  the  energy  now  sometimes 
worse  than  wasted  in  piling  up  monopoly  to  the 
legal  right  of  access  to  industrial  opportunity, 
actually  engaged  as  was  Lincoln  in  guiding  the 
country  in  its  struggle  not  with  internal  foes, 
but  with  nature,  and  wringing  from  the  forces 
of  nature  greater  and  greater  stores  of  energy 
for  the  maintenance  of  life.  The  ideal  of  the 
kingdom  is  mastery,  and  its  leaders  will  be 
masterful  men,  whom  we  will  love  and  honor, 
because  they  will  not  be  struggling  for  mastery 
over  us,  but  over  nature  in  our  behalf.  To-day 


94  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  greatest  leaders  of  the  race  are  hounded  by 
suspicion  and  fear;  and  with,  alas,  a  measure 
of  truth,  for  how  often  has  genius  betrayed  us, 
and  corrupted  by  the  ideals  of  the  social  order 
aimed  not  at  mastery  of  the  world  but  mastery 
over  men !  Augustus  Caesar,  Charles  the  Great, 
Charles  the  Fifth,  and  Napoleon  were  all  great 
men,  fit  for  almost  any  task,  and  they  rendered 
great  services,  but  they  left  the  world  more 
enslaved  than  they  found  it;  and  it  took  blood 
and  violence  to  break  the  chains  forged  while 
serving.  This  betrayal  has  been  so  common 
that  men  justly  fear  great  leadership  and  sus- 
pect it  until  death  has  relieved  them  of  their 
fears.  That  is  why  "Washington  and  Lincoln 
stand  out  so  conspicuously  and  so  lonely  on  the 
horizon  of  human  history. 

In  the  kingdom  dream  such  leadership  will  be 
naturally  beloved  and  not  feared.  The  tra- 
dition of  selfless  service  will  have  been  formed. 
The  wretched  hollowness  and  positive  danger 
to  beloved  offspring  of  mastery  over  men  left 
as  a  legacy  will  shock  our  souls  as  slavery  re- 
volts right  thinking  now.  To-day  the  master- 
ful man  works,  serves,  advances  civilization, 
and  does  great  things  for  us  all,  but  he  demands 
as  payment  legal  title  to  the  productive  machin- 
ery (stocks,  bonds,  and  signs  of  wealth)  for 
himself  and  his  children  to  all  generations.  The 
children  weakened  by  indulgence,  watched  by 


THE  KINGDOM  DREAM  95 

a  dozen  servants,  flattered  and  toadied  to,  prove 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  in  the  third  or  fourth 
generation  either  wicked  or  insane.  They  have 
not  the  stamina  to  stand  the  strain.  And  mis- 
guided love  and  ambition  has  piled  up  for  the 
offspring  a  heritage  of  flattery,  suspicion,  con- 
tempt, envy,  and  hate  on  the  part  of  those  who 
now  must  bargain  for  access  to  the  resources 
of  the  world. 

The  danger  in  the  kingdom  dream  is  not  of 
equality,  but  of  almost  idolatrous  worship  of 
the  favorites  of  the  people.  We  all  like  some- 
thing to  look  up  to,  we  none  of  us  desire  a  crude 
dead  level  of  mediocrity.  Even  at  the  risk 
that  popular  idolatry  involves  of  farther  en- 
slavement, and  in  spite  of  the  sad  experience 
of  centuries  of  betrayal,  we  still  delight  to 
idolize  and  clamorously  proclaim  some  very 
foolish  men  heroes  of  wisdom,  who  profess  to 
serve  us. 

Little  children  are  all  idealists,  it  is  said,  and 
Jesus  Christ  took  a  little  child  and  set  him  in 
our  midst  as  an  example.  But  all  men  have  a 
large  idealism  in  their  nature^  only  now  the 
social  order  in  which  we  live,  with  its  malad- 
justments and  wretched  dislocations,  holds 
down  our  idealism  and  leaves  us  the  victims 
of  our  lower  impulses.  The  kingdom  dream 
believes  in  men  as  it  believes  in  God.  The  Son 
of  man  speaks  to  the  citizenship  of  the  king- 


96  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

dom  and  says,  "Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also 
in  me."  This  requires  faith,  so  the  man  of  the 
street  shrugs  his  shoulders  and  passes  on.  But 
what  has  the  Christian  pulpit  been  preaching 
all  these  ages?  It  is  easy  to  preach  faith  in 
things  everybody  accepts,  but  the  faith  of  the 
kingdom  is  not  easy,  and  yet  a  grain  of  it  would 
move  all  the  mountains  of  hesitation  and  doubt 
and  difficulties  that  face  us.  Faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  is  faith  in  his  kingdom  as  not  only  possi- 
ble here  on  earth  but  as  waiting  only  until  our 
faith  brings  in  the  kingdom  drea^m. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  IN  THE  KINGDOM 
DREAM 

THE  breaking  up  of  nation  and  family  in  the 
enslaved  imperialism  of  Eome  gave  rise  to  a  re- 
markable type  of  individualism.  The  proud  Stoic 
and  the  more  popular  Cynic  preacher  taught 
a  retreat  out  of  the  relations  of  life  into  lonely 
dependence  on  one's  own  soul.  How  revolu- 
tionary this  doctrine  was  can  be  realized  only 
by  one  who  has  followed  the  power  of  the  group 
and  the  dependence  of  the  individual  upon  the 
group  all  down  human  history.  Indeed,  the 
message  fell  only  upon  the  ears  of  the  culti- 
vated minority.  It  brought  to  them  consolation 
and  a  proud  self-reliance.  Individualism  re- 
ceived at  its  hands  that  intellectual  and  some- 
what aristocratic  caste  which  it  has  never  com- 
pletely lost.  It  was  a  product  of  the  cosmo- 
politanism of  the  world  and  of  the  loss  of  all 
the  fundamental  liberties  of  the  old  Eoman 
nobility. 

There  was,  however,  another  cosmopolitan- 
ism within  the  limits  of  the  empire  which  is  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  facts  in  human  history. 
A  nation,  mainly  Semitic,  it  appears,  was 

97 


98  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

scattered  in  the  rush  of  conquering  Babylon, 
and  yet  a  minority  held  together  by  faith 
reestablished  itself  again  in  the  old  home, 
not,  indeed,  as  a  political  group,  save  for  the 
shortest  time,  but  as  a  priestly  religious  com- 
munity. This  community  then  scattered  over 
the  known  world,  conserving  customs  and  lit- 
erature, and  in  spite  of  enormous  losses  by 
defection,  persecution,  and  intermingling  with 
surrounding  populations,  it  has  maintained 
itself  as  a  religious,  homeless  group  ever  since. 
The  cosmopolitanism  of  the  Jew  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  cosmopolitanism  of  the  Roman 
Stoic.  Its  outlook  was  not  the  individual  soul, 
it  sought  a  future  kingdom,  and  its  proud  resig- 
nation to  the  present  had  ever  as  a  background 
the  future  reign.  It  was  essentially  a  group 
cosmopolitanism.  Yet  it  had  many  things  in 
common  with  Roman  Stoicism,  and  was  its 
rival,  it  seems,  in  the  Eoman  circle  of  power 
and  fashion.  In  Galilee  the  exclusiveness  of  a 
priestly  caste  had  broken  down  as  it  had  not  in 
the  central  city  of  Jerusalem.  The  northern 
population  of  Palestine  was  restless  and  un- 
tamed. Here  came  the  voice  of  One  who  taught 
an  individualism  as  lofty  as  that  of  Stoicism, 
but  gentler  and  more  persuasive — an  individ- 
ualism that  was  profoundly  religious  rather 
than  philosophical. 

The  basis  for  the  individualism  of  Jesus  was 


THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  99 

the  worth  of  the  human  soul  in  the  sight  of  God. 
All  men  were  to  him  potentially  divine.  He 
delighted  to  call  himself  the  Son  of  man  and 
to  glory  in  the  oneness,  on  the  one  hand,  with 
the  Father,  and  on  the  other  with  his  brethren. 
His  democracy  was  founded  upon  the  equality 
of  the  family  and  not  on  the  Stoic  doctrine  of 
'  *  natural  rights. ' '  The  harlot,  the  publican  and 
sinner  were  his  sisters  and  brothers  because 
children  of  a  common  Father.  He  laid  empha- 
sis upon  the  eternal  value  of  a  human  soul.  The 
father's  care  on  earth  was  but  a  feeble  image 
of  the  heavenly  Father's  care  of  all  his  children. 
The  hairs  of  our  head  are  numbered.  The  ig- 
norant fisher  folk  of  Galilee  were  watched  over 
and  kept  because  they  were  inherently  worth- 
ful.  The  Stoic  could  raise  himself  out  of  the 
mass.  For  Jesus  the  mass  was  eternally  valu- 
able in  and  for  itself.  This  was  never  used  by 
Jesus  as  a  basis  for  political  rights,  or  for  philo- 
sophic reflection  upon  the  relations  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  group.  He  never  appealed  to  the 
downtrodden  to  form  a  political  party;  at  the 
same  time  he  clearly  recognized  the  fact  that 
in  the  kingdom  many  of  the  first  should  be  last, 
and  many  of  the  last  should  be  first.  To  the 
despised  and  lowly  he  proclaimed  the  coming 
kingdom  as  their  deliverance.  Even  granting 
that  this  side  of  the  proclamation  of  Jesus  had 
received  from  Luke  possibly  undue  emphasis, 


100  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

yet  it  is  in  all  the  Gospels,  and  permeates  the 
whole  message.  Not  possessions,  whether  of 
property  or  of  genius,  give  a  man  his  place  in 
the  Father's  eyes,  but  his  common  humanity. 

Thus  Jesus  struck  at  caste  even  more  effect- 
ively than  Buddha.  For  he  gave  humanity  the 
highest  and  divinest  value,  whereas  for  Buddha 
existence  is  an  evil,  and  humanity's  escape  is  to 
will  not  to  exist. 

This  profoundly  religious  democracy  is  not 
to  be  confounded  with  an  aristocratic  paternal- 
ism. God  is  perfect,  and  sends  his  rain  upon 
the  just  and  upon  the  unjust,  thus  rendering 
them  service  and  maintaining  relationship  with 
them.  But  the  prodigals  can  go  away,  and 
waste  the  father's  goods,  and  God  freely  for- 
gives when  they  return  again  to  claim  sonship 
in  the  father's  house.  The  thought  is  so  pro- 
found and  yet  so  simple  that  the  ages  have 
never  taken  it  in.  This  democracy  is  not  the 
democracy  of  unrelated  units.  It  is  not  a  dis- 
connected aggregate  of  disparate  individuals. 
It  is  not  even  a  voluntary  association  of  polit- 
ical equals.  It  is  the  democracy  of  the  well- 
regulated  family  from  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
Jesus  took  so  much  of  his  inspiration. 

The  kingdom  dream  dare  not  sacrifice  any 
line  of  this  invaluable  individualism.  The 
divine  right  to  make  our  own  mistakes  and  to 
learn  our  lessons  is  too  entirely  precious  to 


THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  101 

ever  lose  it.  We  are  none  of  us  really  full- 
grown.  The  best  of  us  are  still  children.  At 
the  same  time,  we  have  our  own  lives  to  live, 
and  our  only  possible  way  out  of  immaturity 
is  God 's  way,  which  is  to  intrust  to  us  tasks  far 
too  heavy  for  us.  And  what  we  demand  for 
ourselves  we  demand  for  others.  The  kingdom 
dream  must  be  absolutely  and  entirely  demo- 
cratic. It  is  no  hierarchy  of  authority.  The 
nations  exercise  authority,  Jesus  told  his  disci- 
ples, but  they  were  to  keep  carefully  away  from 
it.  He  thought  it  a  good  thing  that  he  himself 
was  going  away  from  them.  And  it  was.  They 
could  never  have  unfolded  the  fullness  of  their 
limited  powers  while  so  dominated  by  his  great 
personality.  The  wise  teacher  draws  out  what 
is  in  his  pupils.  He  does  not  seek  to  stamp 
them  forever  with  the  impress  of  his  own  per- 
sonality. And  Jesus  was  the  wisest  and  great- 
est of  teachers. 

His  democracy  was  one  of  service.  Jesus 
left  us  no  government  scheme  for  either  church 
or  state,  but  it  is  quite  impossible  to  believe  that 
he  would  have  suggested  autocratic  powers  for 
a  group  of  superior  persons  "to  rule  us  in  the 
Lord."  That  was  so  exactly  the  Pharisaic 
model  that  if  Jesus  had  liked  it  he  would  cer- 
tainly have  said  so.  The  self -constituted  groups 
of  "superior  persons"  who  still  wonder  how 
the  ignorant  and  common  man  had  best  be 


102  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

governed  are  entirely  ignorant  of  God's  evi- 
dent purpose.  It  is  far  more  important  that 
the  "ignorant,  common  man"  learn  to  govern 
himself  by  doing  it  than  that  government  be 
made  ever  so  perfect.  If  efficient  government 
of  the  common  man  were  the  highest  goal,  God 
could  do  that  himself  much  better  than  any 
group  of  superior  persons.  But  the  goal  is 
moral  autonomy,  and  the  avoidance  of  mistakes 
and  waste  is  far  too  costly  a  procedure  if  pur- 
chased at  the  price  of  dependence  even  upon  a 
most  estimable  group  of  superior  persons.  We 
are  always  having  efficiency  dinned  into  our 
ears  by  certain  types  of  men.  They  think, 
alas!  only  in  terms  of  economic  and  material 
efficiency.  God  seems  to  think  in  terms  of  moral 
and  spiritual  efficiency.  And  seemingly  in  his 
plan  almost  nothing  is  waste  if  it  has  to  be 
suffered  in  the  interests  of  moral  efficiency. 

Now,  moral  efficiency  can  be  gained  only  by 
taking  enormous  moral  risks.  The  experiment 
of  the  garden  of  Eden  would  have  seemed 
absurd  to  a  group  of  superior  persons,  who 
would  easily  have  arranged  to  supervise  Adam 
and  Eve  in  the  interests  of  a  nobler  horticul- 
ture and  a  well-ordered  world.  God  seems  to 
have  thought  otherwise,  and  the  long,  tragic 
struggle  for  the  priceless  possession  of  moral 
freedom  by  self-government  and  moral  auton- 
omy for  the  race  then  began.  Any  dream,  then, 


THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  103 

of  state  socialism  is  delusive  and  forbidding. 
The  traveler  in  Germany  sees  many  things  to 
admire  and  much  to  imitate.  At  the  same  time, 
a  real  democracy  would  prefer  the  dirty  streets 
of  New  York,  and  the  grime,  moral  and  phys- 
ical, of  Pittsburg,  to  the  order  and  cleanliness 
of  the  smallest  German  town  if  that  order  were 
purchased  at  the  price  of  state  paternalism 
and  submission  forever  to  a  caste  of  superior 
persons.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  the  best 
government  in  Germany  is  not  the  aristocratic 
socialistic  paternalism  of  Bismarck,  but  the 
relatively  democratic  city  government  by  the 
people  themselves.  We  have  still  both  in  New 
York,  London,  and  Berlin  to  work  out  the  very 
machinery  of  democracy.  Nowher^  ha^  de- 
mocracy even  been  tried.  We  still  have  a  pro- 
found  and  touching  faith  in  self-constituted 
groups  of  superior  persons  "of  intelligence, 
refinement,  and  culture/'  which  is  not  shaken 
even  by  witnessing  the  amusements  of  these 
superior  persons  or  watching  how  they  dress. 

The  other  superstition  is  equally  absurd,  that 
:  the  manual  worker  has  something  inherently 
noble  and  unselfish  about  him,  and  that  if  the 
proletariat  were  given  full  swing  charity, 
justice,  and  democracy  would  at  once  blossom 
as  the  rose.  Nothing  of  the  kind  would  be  the 
case.  The  proletariat  is  just  as  selfish,  short- 
sighted, ignorant,  and  intolerant  as  all  the 


104  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

groups  of  superior  persons  of  education  and 
culture  have  proved  thmeselves  to  be.  That  is 
not  the  point.  The  point  is  that  selfishness, 
ignorance,  and  intolerance  can  be  banished, 
and  sanity,  consideration,  and  justice  be  placed 
upon  a  firm  footing,  only  by  taking  all  the 
risks  involved  in  letting  adult  men  and  women 
work  out  their  own  salvation.  This  we  must  do 
even  at  the  tremendous  risks  any  thoughtful 
man  must  face.  At  least  so  the  really  reli- 
gious world  that  walks  by  faith  looks  at  it.  At 
the  awful  risk  of  hell  itself  God  gave  man  self- 
government.  The  issues  of  eternal  life  and 
death  are  in  each  man's  hands.  If  God  took 
that  risk  for  the  sake  of  moral  autonomy  we 
should  not  hesitate  before  the  tremendous  ven- 
ture of  faith  which  real  democracy  unquestiona- 
bly involves. 

Moreover,  history  is  one  long  record  of  the 
failure  of  groups  of  superior  persons  to  actu- 
ally master  the  situation.  The  Roman  aris- 
tocracy broke  down  hideously.  The  Greek 
oligarchies  became  namelessly  corrupt.  The 
aristocracies  of  the  North  Italian  free  cities 
left  records  which  cannot  be  printed  and  sent 
through  the  United  States  mails.  Germany  is 
only  now  recovering  from  the  mad  follies  of  her 
aristocracy  which  cost  her  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  the  revolutions  of  1848,  and  a  bleed- 
ing process  that  has  filled  the  United  States 


THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  105 

with  embittered  sons  and  daughters  who  are 
her  most  merciless  critics.  Nor  is  England  any 
better  off  save  only  as  her  revolutions  have 
from  time  to  time  displaced  the  aristocracy  and 
put  government  on  a  broader  basis.  For  aris- 
tocracy is  alike  debasing  to  the  ruler  and  the* 
ruled.  Slavery  was,  if  possible,  more  of  a  curse 
to  the  slave-owning  class  than  to  the  slaves 
themselves.  These  aristocracies  were  all 
groups  of  most  attractive  superior  persons.  In 
point  of  culture  and  refinement  and  intellectual 
power  the  aristocracy  of  Nero's  court  was 
probably  superior  to  any  similar  group  in 
London,  Berlin,  or  New  York.  But  mastery  of 
men  in  the  interests  of  a  group  seems  to  be 
inherently  debasing,  and  individual  kindliness 
seems  in  no  way  to  exclude  a  collective  cru- 
elty at  which  we  shudder — even  while  perpe- 
trating it. 

Will  democracy  do  any  better  than  oligarchy 
and  aristocracy!  We  do  not  know.  We  have 
never  really  tried.  It  is  the  venture  of  faith 
in  God's  way  of  doing  things.  Of  one  thing, 
however,  we  may  be  sure — we  are  made  of  one 
blood,  and  no  man  is  common  or  unclean.  We 
have  desperately  deluded  ourselves  into  think- 
ing that  a  group  of  economically  superior  per- 
sons are  thereby  lifted  up  to  a  higher  moral 
level.  They  are  not.  They  can  dress  better, 
get  their  finger  nails  polished,  their  language 


106  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

softened,  and  their  intercourse  made  very  much, 
more  agreeable  and  entertaining,  and  their 
souls  can  dry  up  within  them,  or  become  sparks 
from  burning  hells  of  sensuality  and  lust.  God 
is  no  respecter  of  economic  possessions.  With 
him  all  things  are  possible,  and  even  rich  men 
enter  with  joy  into  the  dream  of  a  really  Chris- 
tian democracy,  but  it  is  a  tremendous  triumph 
for  the  divine  when  we  break  through  our  nar- 
row economic  and  class  prejudices  and  really 
see  ourselves  as  God  sees  us.  The  possession 
of  wealth  is  probably  not  much  more  dangerous 
than  the  possession  of  any  privilege.  There 
are  all  kinds  of  Pharisaism.  But  how  hardly 
shall  they  that  have  any  measure  of  riches, 
culture,  intelligence,  graces,  scholarship,  or 
refinement  really  enter  into  the  democratic 
kingdom  dream.  It  is  really  easier  for  the 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  the  needle,  and 
few  there  be  that  really  enter  in.  Even  while 
we  think  we  do,  and  try  hardly  for  it,  there  lurks 
the  arrogance  and  aloofness  that  marks  and 
defiles  class,  caste,  and  clique.  Not  that  poverty 
sanctifies  the  poor  man.  He  is  often  brutalized 
by  his  sorrows,  but  Jesus  saw  plainly  that  he 
escapes  some  of  the  most  subtle  dangers  that 
beset  man's  soul. 

And  it  is  a  matter  of  relation.  Organized 
labor  can  become  as  demoralizingly  aristocratic 
as  the  class  that  monopolizes  the  natural  re- 


THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  107 

sources.  The  mediaeval  guilds  rotted  in  their 
exclusiveness  and  "went  the  wayv^  Churches 

can  become  exclusive,  offensive  clubs;  reform 
movements  can  degenerate  into  new  sects  of  the 
Pharisees.  Charity  organizations  of  all  kinds 
can  become  aristocratic  hindrances  to  any  real 
democratic  progress.  We  need  faith,  courage, 
intelligence,  and  constant  watchfulness  if  we 
are  to  keep  pure  and  bright  the  watchfires  of  a 
really  Christian  democratic  ideal  for  the  king- 
dom dream. 

Furthermore,  this  democracy,  in  strong  con- 
trast to  the  individualism  of  Stoicism,  must  be 
a  loving,  brotherly  democracy.  It  is  not  based 
upon  ''natural  rights,"  but  upon  loving,  moral 
relationships.  And  all  normal  relations  of  serv- 
ice produce  love.  Aristotle  long  ago  was  puz- 
zled by  the  fact  that  the  benefactor  always  loves 
the  one  he  benefits  more  than  the  one  benefited 
is  likely  to  love  the  benefactor.  A  nurse  gen- 
erally grows  to  love  even  the  most  unattractive 
and  naughty  child.  It  is  almost  purely  a  matter 
of  time.  Our  pets  in  childhood  were  not  the 
pretty  dogs  or  the  best  singing  birds,  but  the 
yellow  pups  whose  broken  legs  or  the  scraggly 
birds  whose  injured  wings  made  them  depend- 
ent upon  us,  and  so  they  wound  themselves 
about  our  hearts.  We  served  them,  and  so 
learned  to  love.  Love  is  the  firstborn  child  of 
service.  When,  therefore,  parents  let  their 


108  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

children  grow  up  always  being  waited  upon  and 
never  really  trying  to  serve,  they  are  carefully 
cultivating  the  loveless  life,  and  they  then 
vaguely  wonder  why  the  world  is  so  full  of 
pretty,  heartless  boys  and  girls.  Such  parents 
are  robbing  their  children  of  their  most  pre- 
cious heritage,  and  themselves  of  the  sweetest 
reward  of  parentage,  when  at  last  in  the  weak- 
ness of  old  age  those  children  learn  in  the  last 
services  to  their  parents  something  of  the  untold 
treasures  of  real  love.  The  hard  practical  man 
who  may  chance  to  read  these  pages  will  sneer 
and  say  there  is  not  enough  love  to  go  round. 
He  has  no  faith  that  there  is  enough  love  to  oil 
the  wheels  of  such  a  democracy.  And  perhaps  he 
is  at  present  right,  though  the  writer  does  not 
think  so.  But  even  if  he  is,  it  is  because  we  live 
in  a  world  of  economic  privilege  and  profit,  and 
not  in  one  of  service  and  brotherhood.  Any 
proper  social  order  founded  on  service  would 
soon  produce  all  the  love  needed  for  the  running 
of  our  democracy. 

Love  seeks  no  undue  mastery.  It  may  be  ex- 
ceedingly jealous  and  often  exacting,  but  if  it 
is  wise  with  the  instinct  of  truest  love  it  finds 
its  reward  in  the  growing  response  of  the  ex- 
panding life.  With  what  exultation  the  child 
records  the  fact  that  at  last  its  patience  and 
service  in  behalf  of  a  wounded  bird  has  been 
rewarded  by  the  little  creature  taking  food 


THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  EMPHASIS  109 

from  the  nursing  hand!  With  what  joy  the 
mother  takes  the  first  small  gift  from  the  little 
child  whose  life  has  cost  her  so  much!  What 
genuine  pleasure  it  is  to  any  true  teacher  to 
find  any  trace  of  his  influence  in  the  growing 
capacity  of  those  now  going  their  own  ways  to, 
perhaps,  yet  greater  things  than  he  ever 
dreamed  for  them!  How  far  away  from  all 
thought  of  exploitation  a  loving  democracy 
must  move !  This  divine  respect  for  the  human 
soul,  this  divine  longing  for  love  wrung  from 
others  by  tender  service,  must  be  the  final  basis 
for  a  really  Christian  democracy. 


CHAPTEE  X 

THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  IN  THE  KINGDOM  DREAM 

JESUS  would  have  been  no  true  Jew  had  he 
not  made  the  group  prominent  in  his  teachings. 
Judaism  is  essentially  a  family  and  tribal  re- 
ligion. The  older  prophets  hardly  spoke  to  the 
individual  as  such.  The  tribal  character  of  the 
responsibility  before  Jehovah  is  a  marked 
characteristic  of  the  whole  attitude  and  feeling 
of  the  Old  Testament.  Many  misapprehensions 
arise  in  reading  it  from  making  personal  what 
was  said  to  the  group.  If  in  the  main  the  New 
Testament  speaks  to  the  individual  soul,  the 
Old  Testament  is  in  the  main  a  social  message. 
This  social  message  was  conserved  to  us  by  the 
piety  of  the  early  Church,  which  gratefully  ac- 
cepted the  older  Scriptures  together  with  the 
apostolic  traditions  as  the  basis  of  its  life. 

The  kingdom  dream  cannot,  therefore,  be 
understood  as  a  gospel  of  individual  extrica- 
tion, like  Buddhism.  It  is  a  gospel  of  group  re- 
demption. Only  in  the  group  is  the  fullest  life 
open  to  any  individual.  Man  is  an  animal  save 
as  he  joins  in  the  higher  life  of  the  humanity 
about  him.  However  lofty  the  lonely  separate- 
ness  of  Stoicism  may  seem  in  the  turmoil  and 

110 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  111 

confusions  of  an  increasing  disorder,  it  was  es- 
sentially selfish,  and  in  so  far  was  corrupting. 
For  that  reason  it  could  never  really  make 
marked  headway  as  a  national  religion.  When, 
therefore,  Oriental  cults  came  with  a  new 
group  organization  on  the  basis  of  religious 
and  moral  enthusiasm,  the  philosophic  indi- 
vidualism of  the  Eoman-Hellenistic  world  had 
no  chance.  It  was  then  that  Christianity 
came,  and,  organized  by  Paul  on  the  basis  of 
the  synagogue,  and  later  deeply  influenced  by 
the  sacramental  mysteries,  there  sprang  up  the 
associated  life  of  the  Christian  Church. 

It  had,  as  we  have  seen,  no  clear  political 
program.  Jesus  was  thought  by  most  Chris- 
tians to  be  so  soon  coming  again,  that  almost 
the  only  duty  was  to  live  his  life  of  purity  and 
to  prepare  the  world  for  his  coming  by  earnest 
propaganda.  Yet  Paul  did  closely  organize 
the  group,  not  only  for  propaganda,  but  also 
for  mutual  instruction  and  growth  in  righteous- 
ness. Thus  there  was  laid  the  foundation  for 
the  social  group  whose  compromise  with  Con- 
stantine  gave  the  world  into  the  hands  of  a 
nominally  Christian  imperialism.  One  of  the 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  group  was  the 
solitary  hermit  life.  This  importation  either 
from  India  or  Egypt  represented  to  many  a 
higher  ideal  than  the  old  Jewish  family  group. 
At  this  point  Athanasius  bound  the  monastery 


112  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

and  the  hermit  to  the  social  group,  and  helped, 
at  least,  in  the  process  of  socializing  the  ascetic 
ideal.  So  that  from  that  on  even  the  mon- 
astery became  a  center  of  social  service  and  not 
a  retreat  from  the  world  and  its  needs. 

The  Reformation  is  always  called  "individ- 
ualistic," and  Professor  Nitti  harps  upon  the 
undoubted  fact  that  Protestantism  was  thus 
hampered.  And  yet  the  charge  is  not  quite 
accurate.  The  Reformation  laid  new  emphasis, 
it  is  true,  upon  the  individual,  but  it  also  made 
much  of  the  Church.  The  extreme  individual- 
ism of  some  of  the  Anabaptists  it  most  delib- 
erately rejected.  The  groups  of  the  Reforma- 
tion thought  were  twofold — the  ecclesiastical 
group,  with  the  pure  word  and  the  sacraments, 
and  the  national  group,  with  the  secular  sword. 
Upon  both  these  the  Reformation  leaders  laid 
great  stress.  In  these  groups  alone  could,  ac- 
cording to  the  Reformed  leaders,  the  soul  find 
its  highest  life.  It  may  be  said  that  Luther  and 
Calvin  taught  almost  as  strongly  as  the  Papacy 
that  outside  the  Church  there  was  no  salvation. 
Like  the  Roman  Catholic  communion,  Protes- 
tantism has  always  recognized  as  socially 
fundamental  the  man-woman-child  group,  and 
baptism  is  thus  essentially  a  social  sacrament. 
And  although  now  and  then  a  lonely  soul  like 
Milton  may  live  his  religious  life  on  exalted 
planes  alone  without  ecclesiastical  contact  or 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  113 

responsibility,  the  sober  common  sense  of 
Protestantism  has  always  recognized  the 
churchly  group  as  fundamental,  and  its  con- 
tacts as  ordinarily  necessary  for  the  highest 
religious  development  of  the  individual.  It 
was  a  long  step  in  advance  of  the  Roman  idea 
of  the  Church  when  Wesley  made  it  again 
chiefly  an  organization  for  propaganda,  but  no 
one  realized  more  vividly  than  John  Wesley 
how  essential  it  was  that  the  fires  of  propa- 
gandist activity  should  always  be  kept  lit  and 
replenished  in  the  social  enthusiasm  of  an 
organized  churchly  group.  Indeed,  so  earnestly 
did  he  feel  that  truth  that  he  enormously  in- 
creased the  social  effectiveness  of  all  religious 
organization  by  laying  the  basis  for  new 
groupings. 

At  the  same  time,  the  ecclesiastical  group 
only  exists  to  serve  the  still  larger  group. 
There  is  much  loose  talk  about  the  "function 
of  the  Church."  The  Church  is  bound  by  the 
all-service  of  her  great  Master  to  serve  in  any 
possible  way  she  can  serve  our  common  hu- 
manity. It  is  only  a  question  how  she  may 
best  serve.  If  there  were  no  one  to  run  a  rail- 
road but  the  Church,  then  let  her  build  and 
run  railroads,  as  might  be  the  case  in  China. 
Ordinarily  it  is  wiser  to  leave  the  building  of 
railways  to  others.  At  one  time  there  was  no 
one  to  teach  North  Germany  how  to  farm  and 


114  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

garden,  and  the  Christian  Church  rendered 
immortal  service  teaching  farming  and  gar- 
dening. We  now  find  it  better  done  by  other 
organizations.  At  one  time  the  whole  educa- 
tion of  the  race  was  the  wise  service  of  the 
Church;  to-day  it  is  gradually  passing  to  other 
hands.  We  hope  they  will  do  it  better.  The 
supreme  claim  of  the  larger  group  made  the 
Church  build  hospitals,  and  now  sends  out  hun- 
dreds of  medical  missionaries.  It  is  quite 
absurd  to  lay  down  rules  about  how,  or  where, 
or  how  far  the  Church  group  should  serve  our 
common  humanity.  It  is  simply  a  question  of 
loving  expediency  as  to  where  our  service  can 
best  be  rendered  and  our  limited  strength  be 
most  usefully  applied.  We  do  not  want  to 
leave  the  Word  of  God  to  serve  tables,  but  we 
gladly  serve  tables  if  thereby  we  advance  or 
reveal  the  Word  of  God. 

The  claim  of  the  group  upon  the  individual 
is  absolute,  to  life  itself.  When  the  country 
calls  to  war  the  brave  give  battle.  And  in  the 
struggle  for  mastery  over  God's  world  the 
brave  are  called  to  battle,  and,  if  needs  must  be, 
to  die,  for  the  group.  The  physician  recog- 
nizes that,  and  in  his  search  for  truth  dies  a 
martyr  to  his  research  among  the  dangers  of 
bacteria.  The  soldier  recognizes  that,  and 
goes  to  the  front.  The  real  woman  recognizes 
that,  and  faces  with  joy  all  the  pain  and  perils 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  115 

of  childbirth  when  God  calls  her  to  it.  This 
supreme  claim  of  the  group  is  born  with  the 
savage,  and  is  the  unquestioned  possession  of 
primitive  man.  With  us  the  sudden  growth  of 
the  group,  the  enlargement  of  the  world  idea, 
has  checked  for  a  little  its  imperious  sway  over 
our  minds.  Yet  it  is  only  a  check.  Already 
the  binding  of  the  world  together  by  railways 
and  telegraph,  by  telephone  and  steamships, 
is  greatly  increasing  the  group  feeling  and  the 
sense  of  our  common  human  responsibility. 
Our  hearts  throb  with  Russia's  struggle  for 
freedom,  and  our  minds  go  out  to  China  in  her 
wonderful  shaking  off  of  the  traditions  of  the 
ages.  It  is  the  world  group  that  is  the  object 
of  the  Church  group,  as  is  seen  in  foreign  mis- 
sions. It  is  this  interest  that  should  give  large- 
ness and  breadth  to  our  ecclesiastical  thought 
and  spirit.  The  kingdom  must  then  be  a  social 
dream.  We  must  recognize  the  social  character 
of  the  future  world  redemption  which  we  are 
sent  forth  to  proclaim. 

The  dream  of  the  kingdom  is  of  a  triumph 
of  righteousness  and  social  justice  here  on 
earth.  No  glories  of  the  other  world,  however 
real  to  us,  can  take  the  place  of  God's  triumph 
here  where  his  children  have  suffered  so  long. 
Thus  Jesus  taught  us  to  dream  and  to  pray  and 
to  work  for  a  kingdom  of  loving  justice  here 
and  now.  At  times  a  negro  must  be  tempted  to 


116  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

wish  for  the  transplanting  of  his  race  to  an- 
other land,  there  to  work  out  its  destiny.  But 
it  can  only  be  a  momentary  impulse.  Mr. 
Booker  T.  Washington  feels  more  justly  and 
nobly  when  he  teaches  his  race  that  here  they 
have  been  enslaved  and  suffered,  but  that  it  is 
here  they  are  to  work  out  their  own  highest 
freedom.  God's  triumph  would  not  be  com- 
plete were  it  only  beyond  the  veil,  nor  would  it 
be  complete  were  it  confined  to  any  one  social 
group. 

So  interdependent  are  the  units  of  a  group 
with  each  other  and  the  group  as  a  whole  that 
individual  salvation  in  the  fullest  sense  is  im- 
possible for  any  individual  without  group  sal- 
vation. Paul's  conception  of  salvation  was 
complete  freedom  to  be  and  to  do  righteous- 
ness. And  yet  we  deceive  ourselves  if  we  think 
we  can,  or  that  anybody  under  existing  circum- 
stances can,  be  really  righteous.  God  who  sees 
the  heart  may  see  we  want  to  be  and  to  do 
righteousness,  and  may  accept  for  sheer  love 
our  childish  labors  and  "  count  it  to  us  for  right- 
eousness, ' '  but  all  we  do  is  stained  and  smeared 
by  social  injustice.  There  is  little  use  striving 
against  this  or  that  particular  form  of  '  *  tainted 
money,"  for  no  one  can  tell  whether  the  money 
that  goes  to  pay  the  preacher 's  salary  is  not  the 
rent  paid  for  disorderly  houses.  No  one  knows, 
who  works  for  a  corporation,  how  far  justice 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  117 

and  honesty  mark  the  money  that  gives  him 
his  living,  and  yet  he  is  bound  to  be  a  loyal  and 
silent  servant.  No  one  can  invest  money  and 
be  sure  that  he  is  not  profiting  by  all  sorts  of 
illegitimate  privileges.  We  are  surrounded  by 
a  social  system  that  is  in  its  inwardness  frankly 
commercial  and  not  Christian,  and  as  the  early 
Christians  had  to  eat  meat  offered  to  idols  ask- 
ing no  questions,  we  walk  helpless  for  the  time 
being  to  do  aught  but  protest  against  the  sys- 
tem, and  labor  for  social  Christianization.  We 
labor  for  the  chance  to  live  the  full  Christian 
life;  our  shirts  unsoiled  by  sweated  toil;  our 
clothes  not  sewed  in  the  sighing  of  overworked, 
underpaid  Hebrew  tailors ;  our  food  untouched 
by  cruelty  and  hardship  to  foreign  girls  and 
driven  men;  our  merchandise  not  handled  by 
girls  driven  by  low  wages  to  live  the  life  of 
Parisian  grisettes. 

The  sweetest,  simplest  Christian  home  is  in- 
vaded by  the  awful  shadows  of  a  diseased  social 
order.  Every  pastor,  every  social  worker, 
every  faithful  Young  Men's  Christian  Associ- 
ation secretary  knows  the  tragedies  that  are 
enacted  daily,  and  the  individual  cannot  even 
if  he  would  gain  social  extrication.  We  are  all 
mixed  up  with  it  in  one  way  or  another,  and  we 
never  know  just  where  we  shall  meet  it.  And 
the  only  answer  is  the  paradox  of  Jesus — he 
who  would  save  his  life  must  lose  it  for  the 


118  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

kingdom's  sake.  Individual  salvation  is  a  by- 
product of  our  kingdom  activity.  The  man  or 
woman  who  sets  out  to  save  the  group,  to  really 
get  social  righteousness,  finds  salvation  on  the 
way.  The  taunt  that  was  flung  at  Jesus  best 
describes  the  situation.  His  enemies  said,  "He 
saved  others,  himself  he  cannot  save."  This 
was  not  only  true,  but  he  did  not  want  to  save 
himself.  Had  he  tried  to  save  his  soul  he  would 
have  lost  it.  He  did  not  come  to  save  his  soul 
but  the  world,  and  the  only  really  Christian  life 
is  the  one  we  share  with  Jesus. 

The  Church  has  always  lost  her  soul  when 
she  began,  like  Peter,  to  think  of  herself  on  the 
stormy  waters.  When  the  ecclesiastical  hier- 
archy began  to  treat  world-rule  as  the  end  of 
her  life  the  Reformation  became  a  divine  neces- 
sity. And  it  is  the  same  with  the  individual 
church.  One  reason  why  so  many  churches  are 
ready  to  die  is  because  they  are  trying  to  save 
their  own  souls  and  meet  expenses.  The  church 
that  starts  out  to  save  the  whole  community  by 
social  service  may  be  crucified,  but  it  will  not 
die  of  inanition.  Nor  can  its  program  be  too 
large  and  too  vital.  We  dare  not  strain  at  gnats 
and  swallow  camels,  nor  dare  we  begin  with 
our  neighbor's  mote  before  we  take  out  the 
beam  in  our  own  eye.  Why  should  not  the 
churches  of  a  country  town  get  together  and 
prayerfully  ask,  What  is  the  "next  step"  for 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  119 

the  social  saving  of  the  school,  the  street,  the 
social  life,  the  amusements,  and  the  business 
of  the  community?  They  may  not  agree  on  doc- 
trine, ritual,  or  church  government,  but  surely 
there  are  measures  of  the  kingdom  they  can 
agree  upon.  Then  there  are  political  pro- 
grams they,  perhaps,  cannot  agree  to,  but  they 
can  give  "Godspeed"  to  members  who  do  see, 
or  think  they  see,  the  way  clearly.  The  Church 
could,  without  committing  herself  to  any  social 
program,  encourage  her  young  people  to  try  to 
find  out  from  earnest  and  sincere  men  what 
they  propose  to  do.  The  inquiry  should  be  on 
broad  lines.  All  seriously  minded  men  with  an 
ideal  community  as  the  goal  might  be  heard. 
Much  might  be  said  only  partly  true,  or  even 
false,  but  even  then  correction  would  give  in- 
telligent teaching  its  best  chance.  What  the 
pulpit  often  now  lacks  is  reality.  The  boys  and 
girls  are  in  great  danger  in  our  schools  and 
colleges  of  catching  only  the  negative  and  de- 
structive side  of  the  modern  view  of  the  world. 
The  Church  can  reach  such  only  by  equally 
vital  teaching  of  the  positive  and  lasting  values, 
now  in  danger  of  being  thrown  away.  We 
never  had  an  age  seemingly  more  hungry  for 
real  religious  teaching.  The  old  apology,  and 
the  old  metaphysical  theology,  is,  indeed,  hope- 
lessly gone  for  the  present.  Those  who  saw  in 
it  the  essence  of  religion  are  mourning.  But 


120  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Jesus  never  was  before  so  vital  an  issue  in  men's 
thoughts,  and  never  before  were  the  things  he 
valued  more  in  the  foreground  of  religious  dis- 
cussion. The  call  is  loud  and  insistent.  Men 
are  everywhere  asking,  "What  must  we  do  to 
be  saved?"  What  does  it  actually  involve  to 


say,  "We  belie  vein  Jesus"  t    Does  it  mean 

talking  about  him,  or  doing  as  he  did?  The 
crying  need  of  to-day  is  the  harnessing  of  the 
religious  enthusiasm  easily  seen  in  the  human 
life  about  us  to  social  salvation,  to  the  delib- 
erate and  intelligent  effort  to  realize  Christian 
conditions  in  our  midst.  We  should  try  to 
actually  make  it  possible  to  live  according  to 
the  Golden  Rule.  No  doubt  the  main  message 
at  present  from  the  Church  is,  "Awake  out  of 
sleep!"  We  must  render  any  service  in  our 
power.  We  have  before  us  the  one  ideal,  a  life 
that  will  reveal  God.  The  man  that  cries  out 
to-day  for  God  does  not  see  him  because  of 
greed,  injustice,  and  oppression  in  the  social 
order.  He  may  see  him  in  Christ  Jesus,  but  we 
have  yet  to  see  him  incarnate  in  his  kingdom. 
The  social  incarnation  of  God  is  surely  to  be 
for  some  time  to  come  the  main  message  of  the 
Christian  pulpit. 


CHAPTER  XI 

CLASSICAL  POLITICAL  ECONOMY  AND  THE 
KINGDOM  DREAM 

THE  Christian  thinker  turns  with  a  very  con- 
siderable degree  of  disappointment,  surely, 
from  the  ordinary  book  on  political  economy 
written  from  the  general  classic  standpoint.  Not 
only  does  classical  political  economy  generally 
ignore  values  he  most  prizes,  but  the  practical 
influence  of  political  economy  seems  so  small. 
Its  judgments  are  scoffed  at  openly.  The  al- 
most unanimous  opinion,  for  instance,  of  clas- 
sical political  economy  both  in  England  and 
the  United  States,  and  also  in  Germany,  is  in 
favor  of  free  trade,  and  yet  the  arguments 
hardly  receive  even  decent  attention.  On  the 
currency  question  the  same  thing  is  true.  In- 
deed, whereas  twenty-five  years  ago  there  was 
a  body  of  opinion  which  deserved  to  be  called 
the  accepted  hypothetical  positions  from  which 
all  science  starts,  to-day  one  seeks  in  vain  for 
any  such  agreement. 

When  one  looks  broadly  at  the  subject  one 
sees  that  classical  political  economy  has  lost 
its  authority  for  the  same  reasons  that  Scholas- 
ticism "went  the  way"  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

121 


122  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

It  assumed  the  existing  order  as  a  closed  sys- 
tem within  which,  indeed,  men  could  and  should 
rationalize  their  conclusions,  but  only  within 
that  system,  and  even  under  its  authority. 
Moreover,  it  became  utterly  a  priori  and  un- 
historic  in  spirit.  One  has  only  to  take  up  such 
a  work  as  "Political  Economy,"  by  Francis  A. 
Walker,  an  industrious  and  clear  writer,  whose 
work  is  mainly  based  on  the  conclusions  of  men 
like  Senior  and  Jevons  and  Cairnes,  to  see  how 
completely  the  so-called  "science  of  political 
economy"  in  its  classic  form  has  lost  its  way. 
While  pretending  to  be  wonderfully  objective 
and  earnestly  scientific,  it  is  little  more  than  a 
labored  defense  of  existing  conditions.  Walker 
says,  "The  economist,  as  such,  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  question  what  men  had  better 
do;  how  nations  should  be  governed;  or  what 
regulations  should  be  made  for  their  mutual 
intercourse.  His  business  simply  is  to  trace 
economic  effects  to  their  causes,  etc. ' ' l 

At  the  same  time,  his  work,  like  the  work  of 
Cairnes  before  him,  is  full  of  definitions  that 
define  nothing  that  really  ever  existed ;  as,  for 
instance,  the  definition  of ' '  competition, '  '2  which 
must  be  ' '  the  unstrained  operation  of  individual 
self-interest  among  the  buyers  and  sellers  of 
any  article  in  any  market,"  and  neither  com- 
bination, nor  custom,  nor  sentiment,  whether 

1  Francis  A.  Walker,  "Political  Economy,"  p.  16.          2  Page  74. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  AND  GOD'S  KINGDOM    123 

of  patriotism,  gratitude,  charity,  or  vanity,  must 
interfere  if  it  is  to  be  free  competition. 

It  is  easy  to  show,  for  instance,  that  with 
land  and  coal  mines  in  private  hands,  and  with 
patent  laws  and  national  boundaries,  there 
never  has  been,  and  never  could  be,  "free  com- 
petition" in  the  sense  in  which  Jevons, 
Cairnes,  and  Walker  use  the  term;  and  yet 
they  all  go  on  easily  and  gently  dogmatizing 
on  the  subject,  as  if  we  had  it  under  our  hand 
and  could  really  examine  it. 

Yet  the  real  reason  for  the  widespread  lack 
of  attention  to  men  who  have  so  much  to  teach 
us,  lies,  perhaps,  deeper  than  even  their  dog- 
matic apriorism.  It  lies  in  their  failure  to 
grasp  the  fact  that  they  are  dealing  with  moral 
quantities  and  not  with  machines;  that  there 
are  psychological  laws  as  inexorable  as  the 
laws  of  exchange,  and  that  just  as  medicine 
has  now  to  retrace  her  steps  and  stop  treating 
men  as  elaborate  mechanisms  and  consider  the 
moral  and  mental  factors,  so  classical  political 
economy  must  become  both  psychological  and 
historical  before  it  can  collect  or  deal  with  the 
facts  of  our  common  human  life. 

Because  of  this  widespread  sense  of  unrest 
there  has  been  invented  the  hybrid  science 
"sociology,"  with  its  ill-made  hybrid  name. 
It  undertakes  to  examine  society,  taking  in  all 
the  factors  that  go  to  make  up  human  life  and 


124  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

to  collect  and  relate  the  data  of  human  ex- 
perience. While,  no  doubt,  such  examination 
of  the  data  is  most  necessary,  and  the  work 
done  in  so-called  sociology  has  been  most  use- 
ful, it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the  right 
course  would  not  have  been  simply  to  restore 
political  economy  to  her  lost  estate  and  recall 
her  to  her  real  task. 

Above  all,  it  is  essential  that  the  so-called 
sociology  should  not  fall  into  the  error  of 
assuming  that  the  collection  of  data  is 
science.  That  is  only  a  small  part  of  scien- 
tific work;  and  fruitful  collection  of  data  will 
alway  have  as  its  guiding  motive  the  testing 
of  some  tentative  hypothesis  needed  for  the 
explanation  of  our  experience.  At  this  point 
we  greatly  need  the  work  of  experts.  Those 
of  us  who  find  ourselves  as  citizens  compelled 
to  weigh  and  test  the  claims  of  all  manner  of 
proposed  social  solutions  are  often  sadly  at 
sea  because  we  have  lost  confidence  in  those 
who  should  be  our  pilots.  The  "laws*'  of  so- 
called  political  economy  we  discover  are  the 
unreal  laws  of  an  unreal  world.  We  know  no 
world  peopled  by  mechanisms  competing 
"without  passion  or  vanity."  The  life  we 
know  is  swayed  by  all  sorts  of  passions  and 
feelings,  rational  and  irrational. 

We  are,  therefore,  often  quite  adrift  for  lack 
of  expert  help,  and  as  we  must  act  as  citizens 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY  AND  GOD'S  KINGDOM    125 

we  can  act  only  on  the  best  information  at 
hand.  The  Christian  citizen,  just  so  far  as  he 
is  Christian,  lives  to  promote  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth,  for  which  he  daily  prays.  He 
seeks  to  make  all  his  political  activity  subor- 
dinate to  his  consuming  desire  that  the  will  of 
God  may  be  done  on  earth  even  as  it  is  done 
in  heaven.  So  far  as  he  is  really  Christian  he 
never  asks,  "What  suits  my  self-interest? "but 
always  and  only,  "What  will  promote  the  king- 
dom of  God  among  men?  What  will  subdue 
the  misery  and  stay  the  wounds  of  the  social 
organism?" 

Yet  just  here  sentimental  ignorance  may  in- 
volve us  in  all  sorts  of  mistakes  and  blunders 
that  do  more,  perhaps,  to  hinder  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom  than  even  the  selfishness  of  men 
with,  perhaps,  no  kingdom  purpose.  It  is 
therefore  a  Christian  duty  to-day  for  any  man, 
to  the  limit  of  his  strength,  time,  and  capacity, 
to  inform  himself  about  the  social  condition 
and  the  proposed  remedies.  We  are  citizens 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  are  working  for 
moral  order.  We  need  all  the  help  we  can  get 
to  interpret  the  facts,  but  we  must  also  watch 
closely  the  interpreters.  This  is  the  evil  of  the 
situation.  Where  shall  we  turn?  We  have  lost 
confidence  in  those  who  should  have  been  our 
guides.  We  see  ourselves  also  surrounded  by 
confident,  dogmatic  men  who  claim  our  ear  for 


126  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

all  kinds  of  laws  and  remedies.  Some  say  we 
are  not  Christian  if  we  do  not  vote  for  prohi- 
bition, or  socialism,  or  free  silver.  Others  tell 
us  we  must  simply  save  our  souls  and  leave 
politics  to  the  politicians.  "We  can  do  none  of 
these  things  or  leave  them  undone  without  a 
sense  of  responsibility  as  citizens  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  working  for  his  kingdom  on  earth. 
To  help  men  who,  like  the  writer,  are  still 
feeling  the  way  toward  a  definite  policy  of 
social  readjustment,  we  must  undertake  an  ex- 
amination of  the  facts  presented  to  us.  We 
begin  with  the  emphasis  upon  the  individual, 
because  although  one  cannot  stop  with  the  indi- 
vidual it  generally  happens  to-day  that  the  em- 
phasis lies  there.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  merely 
a  difference  of  emphasis.  The  group  and  the 
individual  are  really  not  separable.  When  one 
begins  with  the  individual  one  ends  with  the 
group;  and  when  one  begins  with  the  group 
one  ends  with  the  individual. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  MANCHESTER  SCHOOL 

CLASSICAL  political  economy  in  the  United 
States,  when  urging  us  to  the  unimpassioned 
bloodless  examination  commended  by  Professor 
Walker,  forgets  that  the  importance  of  the 
so-called  "Manchester  school"  arose  from  the 
fact  that  its  political  economy  was  a  cry  for 
reform.  And  with  this  school  the  classical  po- 
litical economy  of  our  schools  and  colleges  is 
linked. 

The  history  of  "Manchester  political  econ- 
omy" is  interesting.  England's  politics  were 
for  many  years  almost  wholly  a  question  of  the 
possession  of  the  land.  From  the  Conquest 
on  there  was  nominally  in  England  no  private 
property  in  land.  All  land  was,  and  in  theory 
still  is,  held  by  the  monarch  in  trust  for  the 
whole  community.  At  the  same  time  the  access 
of  the  whole  community  to  the  land  was  never 
upon  equal  terms.  "When,  therefore,  pest  swept 
away  nearly  a  third  of  the  inhabitants  of  Eng- 
land, and  land  was  cheap  and  access  easy,  Eng- 
land sprang  into  the  glory  and  beauty  of  rela- 
tively democratic  "Merrie  England." 

As  population  again  increased,  and  the 
127 


128  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Church,  which  had  absorbed  enormous  tracts 
of  land,  became  an  exacting  landlord,  sending 
huge  sums  of  rental  over  the  sea,  not  only  to 
Rome,  but  even  to  England's  hereditary  foes, 
there  arose  then  the  first  serious  attempt  to 
break  away  from  vassalage  to  Rome.  "Wic- 
lif's  Lollard  movement  was  not  a  religious 
movement  only,  it  was  also  a  land  movement. 
This  was  both  the  strength  and  the  weakness 
of  the  attempted  reformation.  It  was  in  its 
spirit  and  aims  a  proletarian  revolt  against 
foreign  domination,  and  although  seemingly 
crushed,  it  was  not  crushed  without  planting 
the  seeds  of  both  theological  and  economic  re- 
bellion, which  were  later  to  spring  up  into  a 
harvest  of  social  reforms.1 

The  middle  class  was  rising  in  power  and 
wealth,  partly  through  the  newborn  commerce, 
partly  through  the  newborn  learning.  What 
a  proletarian  Lollard  movement  could  not  do 
because  of  its  economic  weakness,  and  its  too 
sweeping  attack  upon  all  private  property,  this 
middle  class  succeeded  in  doing,  and  took  over 
the  lands  of  the  Church  as  a  spoil  for  itself  and 
a  sop  for  the  aristocracy.  For  the  old  military 
aristocracy  shared  with  the  new  rising  aris- 

*The  misinterpretation  of  Lollardism  by  a  most  full  and 
learned  student  of  it,  Gairdner  in  his  "History  of  Lollardism" 
(2  vols.,  London,  1908),  is  due  to  his  ignoring  the  economic  and 
social  aspects  of  it,  and  treating  it  too  exclusively  as  a  theological 
movement. 


THE  MANCHESTER  SCHOOL  129 

tocracy  in  the  ecclesiastical  plunder.  The 
English  Eeformation  has  some  very  noble 
chapters.  It  was  through  and  through  a  re- 
ligious movement  at  bottom,  but  this  particular 
chapter  is  not  pretty,  and  the  Reformation  had 
to  wait  for  a  John  Wesley  before  even  the  re- 
ligious side  of  it  was  rounded  out  and  made 
realty  Protestant. 

Puritanism  was  the  expression  of  this  middle- 
class  thought  and  feeling.  It  was  not  demo- 
cratic, and  it  was  not  proletarian,  but  exceed- 
ingly anxious  for  power  and  too  eager  to  force 
its  ideals  upon  the  nation.  This  it  nearly  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  at  the  Revolution  under  Crom- 
well, but  a  process  often  observed  in  England 
really  betrayed  it.  The  old  military  feudal 
aristocracy  struck  hands  with  the  leadership 
of  the  movement  on  its  economic  side,  and  es- 
tablished the  throne  again  and  the  rule  of 
what  afterward  (under  William,  1688)  became 
the  great  WThig  party.  Had  the  Stuarts  been 
willing  for  the  sake  of  nominal  royalty  to  sub- 
mit to  what  became  Whig  rule,  they  might 
be  on  the  throne  yet.  But  they  were  Tory, 
feudal  and  aristocratic  through  and  through, 
and  the  Whig  party  had  to  rid  itself  of  the 
incubus. 

One  of  the  ways  in  which  the  Tory  leaders 
were  detached  from  the  feudal  interest  was  by 
corn  laws  and  the  control  of  the  food  market. 


130  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

This  was  exceedingly  important  to  them,  for 
as  industry  and  commerce  rose  farm  rents  be- 
came relatively  unimportant,  as  compared  with 
site  rents  for  warehouses  and  factories,  or 
rents  for  coal  lands  and  water  power.  Only  by 
taxing  the  food  supply  of  the  rapidly  increas- 
ing population  could  farm  rents  be  kept  up. 
The  hardships  endured  by  the  manufacturing 
population,  utterly  unprotected  from  exploita- 
tion by  the  commercial  masters  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  land-owning  class  on  the  other,  called 
into  being  the  sympathy  that  enabled  the  trad- 
ing interest  in  free  trade  to  push  its  reform, 
and  later  enabled  the  landed  aristocracy  to 
put  through  factory  reform  (Lord  Shaftes- 
bury). 

Out  of  this  readjustment  came  the  so-called 
Manchester  school.  Its  emphasis  was  upon  the 
freedom  of  the  individual.  It  demanded  free 
exchange  for  the  manufactured  products,  and 
built  up  a  most  elaborate  and  useful  political 
economy  upon  the  needs  of  the  great  industrial 
community. 

Now,  what  happens  constantly  with  both  re- 
ligion and  political  economy  is  the  prostitu- 
tion of  its  victories  by  the  selfishness  of  a  class. 
When  the  Christian  Church  by  bloody  sacrifice 
had  won  its  way  to  paramount  influence  in  the 
life  of  humanity,  the  military  aristocracy  of  the 
Roman-Oriental  world  claimed  it  as  its  own 


THE  MANCHESTER  SCHOOL  131 

under  Constantine,  and  the  Church  made  the 
colossal  blunder  of  entering  most  gladly  into 
the  compromise.  It  is  easy  for  us  to  see  the 
blunder  now.  It  was  not  so  easy  to  see  it 
then.  Exactly  the  same  thing  has  happened 
with  the  Manchester  political  economy.  Its 
victories  over  feudal  selfishness x  were  used 
for  the  establishment  of  a  type  of  individual- 
ism that  exploited  women  and  children  in  the 
factories  and  mines  of  the  newborn  industrial- 
ism, and  that  extended  its  protection  over  hor- 
rors of  which  England  is  now  ashamed. 

A  cry  went  up  that  is  echoed  in  Charles 
Kingsley's  " Alton  Locke,"  and  a  distinct  re- 
action set  in  against  the  teachings  of  Man- 
chester individualism.  This  was  voiced  not 
only  by  Owen  and  later  by  the  Christian  Social- 
ists, but  also  found  expression  in  the  factory 
acts,  the  bills  for  the  protection  of  women  and 
children,  and  later  in  the  municipal  reforms  in 
which  Manchester  itself  has  an  honorable  place. 

In  this  reaction  too  much  scorn  may  now  be 
poured  out  upon  the  Manchester  thinking.  In 
its  origin  it  exalted  the  individual  as  over 
against  the  feudal  oligarchy  which  was  crush- 
ing England's  life.  It  stood  for  the  moral  au- 
tonomy of  adult  manhood.  It  recognized  the 


1  The  reader  interested,  and  wishing  to  convince  himself  of  the 
facts,  may  turn  to  Adam  Smith,  Thorold  Rogers,  Green's  "His- 
tory of  the  English  People,"  etc. 


132  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

larger  world  and  sought  to  break  down  the 
narrow  national  boundaries  of  sometimes 
stupid  and  sometimes  downright  selfish  tariff 
restrictions  on  the  food  supply  of  England.  It 
tried  seriously  to  formulate  a  program  of  po- 
litical and  social  reform.  Its  services  to  the 
political  reconstruction  of  English  life  were 
not  only  considerable,  but  its  emphasis  upon 
the  individual  made  directly  for  a  larger  and 
freer  democracy.  The  reform  bills  by  which 
the  franchise  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
land-owning  oligarchy,  "Whig  and  Tory,  and  a 
redistribution  of  the  political  power  made  pos- 
sible, were  passed  only  because  the  individual- 
ism of  Manchester  thinking  had  so  enormously 
weakened  the  patriarchal  social  structure. 
Moreover,  it  taught  Englishmen  to  think  in 
phrases  of  economic  readjustment  instead  of 
merely  political  formulae. 

At  the  same  time,  the  teachings  of  the  Man- 
chester school  were  fearfully  abused.  Political 
freedom  is  a  mere  farce,  while  economic  free- 
dom is  impossible,  and  Manchester  individual- 
ism was  scholastic;  it  refused  to  consider  any- 
thing as  even  worthy  of  examination  that 
threatened  the  closed  system  of  "private 
property. ' ' 

The  ideal  Christian  family  knows  no  "private 
property"  that  is  not  subject  to  the  larger  in- 
terest of  the  family  life.  Private  possession  is 


THE  MANCHESTER  SCHOOL  133 

at  best  but  stewardship,  nor  is  property  the 
foundation  of  the  family  organization,  but  the 
spiritual  life  of  love,  service,  and  fellowship. 
To  this  property  is  only  a  means.  The  polit- 
ical economy  of  the  Manchester  school  treated 
it  as  an  end.  And  indeed  nearly  all  classical 
political  economy  is  cursed  by  the  same  un- 
fortunate misinterpretation  of  life.  Human 
life  was  thought  of  as  a  means  for  the  produc- 
tion and  distribution  of  goods.  Wealth  was 
separated  from  its  real  significance  as  a  means 
to  social  and  communal  well-being  and  joy.  It 
was  made  the  end  of  life.  In  its  supposed  in- 
terests, with  the  pronounced  individualism  of 
the  "let  alone"  school  of  thinking  as  armor,  a 
hard  battle  was  and  still  is  fought  against  every 
proposed  reform.  The  sins  of  the  governing 
oligarchy  of  the  past  had  made  men  afraid  of 
all  government  regulation,  and  the  cry  was  al- 
ways raised  that  that  government  was  best  that 
governed  least. 

This  policeman  theory  of  government  struck 
indeed,  at  the  aristocratic  patriarchal  system 
which  cramped  and  stunted  English  life.  At 
the  same  time,  it  was  utterly  without  communal 
idealism  or  communal  faith  and  hope.  Even 
the  old  aristocratic  semi-feudal  system  had 
much  in  it  that  was  tender,  beautiful,  and 
socially  effective.  Even  selfish  landlordism 
was  made  to  feel  its  responsibilities  by  feudal 


134  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tradition.  Toryism  looks  back,  as  in  Walter 
Scott,  with  longing  eyes  to  the  ethics  and  tra- 
ditions of  the  feudal  days.  In  contrast  with  the 
savage  anarchy  of  the  early  days  of  industrial 
"freedom"  so  called,  those  ways  were  ways  of 
relative  peace.  The  fearful  excesses  of  indus- 
trial greed  working  in  a  competition  that  slew 
the  man  who  did  not  sink  to  the  level  of  the 
greediest  produced  a  state  of  affairs  shocking 
to  all  really  Christian  feeling.  In  the  reports 
to  Parliament  facts  were  brought  out  shameful 
in  the  last  degree,  and  made  possible  only  by 
the  insensate  theory  that  the  individual  freedom 
to  exploit  one's  fellow  creatures  was  a  heaven- 
born  gift. 

Moreover,  the  "let  alone"  theory  of  the 
Manchester  school  was  only  half-baked  and 
never  really  carefully  thought  through.  It  had 
no  range  of  vision  and  no  grasp  of  the  historic 
situation.  It  was  dominated  by  certain  a 
priori  assumptions,  but  had  neither  the  courage 
nor  the  insight  to  press  these  home  to  their  ex- 
treme application.  It  was  clear,  but  shallow  and 
really  ill-informed,  and  in  its  later  stages  was 
hard,  dogmatic,  and  ignorant. 

Most  unfortunately,  in  some  respects,  its 
thinking  has  enormously  influenced  and  even 
corrupted  the  religious  feeling  and  thought  of 
our  common  Protestantism.  Whether  in  Eng- 
land or  the  United  States  the  Churches  directly 


THE  MANCHESTER  SCHOOL  135 

under  the  influence  of  English  Liberalism  have 
been  held  back  from  much  social  agitation  and 
reform  by  the  specter  of  interference  with  the 
" rights  of  property  and  the  individual."  And 
all  too  often  property  has  been  more  than 
human  life,  and  wealth-collecting  more  than  the 
family  basis  of  the  national  organization. 

This  explains  some  of  the  strange  political 
anomalies  of  English  life  to-day.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, who  was  a  born  and  bred  aristocrat,  with 
many  most  pronounced  Tory  sympathies,  who 
never  really  had  faith  in  the  democracy,  was 
followed  to  a  man  by  the  middle-class  dissent 
of  England.  In  spite  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  High 
Church  views ;  in  spite  of  a  bill  of  disestablish- 
ment in  Ireland  that  left  the  Church  really 
richer  than  she  was  before,  and  was  an  out- 
rageous job  in  many  of  its  details ;  in  spite  of 
a  tenderness  for  all  that  is  really  dear  to  the 
Tory  heart,  Mr.  Gladstone  retained  to  the  end 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  politically 
liberal  party.  He  stood  in  the  eyes  of  dissent- 
ing Liberalism  for  the  protection  of  thrift  and 
the  will  of  the  middle  classes.  Whether  Mr. 
Gladstone  would  ever  have  really  become  a 
radical  is  an  academic  question,  but  if  he  had 
he  would  have  lost  the  support  of  the  English 
Chapel,  for  the  Chapel  is  still  thoroughly  under 
the  influence  of  Manchester,  and  is  bent  on 
conserving  the  values  upon  which  the  older 


136  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Liberalism  laid  so  much  stress.  Radicalism 
in  England  is  now  largely  the  possession  of  the 
proletariat  and  the  Established  Church.  And 
socialism  of  a  centralized  paternal  character 
has  a  large  following  even  in  the  oldest  Tory 
strongholds. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

INDIVIDUALISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

THE  founding  of  the  Republic  was  a  work  of 
great  difficulty.  The  fear  of  a  governmental 
oligarchy  was  ever  present  to  men's  minds. 
Thoughtful  men  were  greatly  influenced  by  the 
wave  of  feeling  that  was  sweeping  over  France 
and  Europe,  and  that  formulated  by  the  Ency- 
clopedists, Rousseau  and  Voltaire,  was  produc- 
ing that  state  of  mind  which  made  the  political 
revolution  possible.  This  sense  of  revolt 
against  all  authority  was  the  natural  reaction 
against  the  tyranny  of  both  Church  and  State. 
This  tyranny  was  well-nigh  unchecked. 

The  Reformation  had  not  immediately  made 
for  political  freedom.  The  reformers  sought 
refuge  from  the  Church  in  the  arms  of  petty 
princes  and  powerful  kings.  The  Roman 
Church  has  been  a  constant  menace  to  all 
tyranny  save  its  own.  There  had  always  been 
the  possibility,  in  the  last  resort,  of  an  appeal 
to  the  Pope.  Where  the  Reformation  came  there 
arose  at  once,  in  England,  in  Germany,  and  in 
France,  such  despotisms  as  the  feudal  system 
had  not  tolerated.  In  England  this  tyranny 
had  found  its  fate  in  Cromwell,  and  in  France 

137 


138  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

matters  were  ripe  for  the  final  struggle  there. 
In  the  meantime  those  who  were  shaping  the 
destiny  of  the  Eepublic  guarded  as  best  they 
could  the  interests  of  individual  freedom  and 
the  security  of  property;  both  of  which  inter- 
ests had  suffered  so  sadly  all  down  England's 
weary  wars  after  the  Reformation. 

Thus  a  philosophy  of  individualism  deeply 
influenced  by  French  thinking  controlled  the 
educated  and  thoughtful  few.  France  was, 
also,  wildly  popular  because  of  her  support 
against  England  in  the  war  for  independence. 
The  frontier  life  which  made  "  every  man  a 
self-supporting  institution"  deepened  the  dis- 
trust of  all  communal  control.  It  was  the  ener- 
getic, forceful,  independent  man  who  made  his 
way  to  America,  and  whose  independence  was 
strengthened  and  deepened  by  almost  unlimited 
free  land,  and  scope  for  individual  energy.  All 
bureaucratic  restriction  upon  the  individual 
was  simply  abhorrent  to  the  soul  of  the  early 
settler.  He  could  not  brook  even  the  simplest 
interference  with  his  varied  activity.  Gen- 
eration after  generation  grew  up  trained  to 
the  widest  self-expression,  and  taught  from 
infancy  to  distrust  all  centralized  govern- 
ment. 

This  reflected  itself  in  the  struggle  for  state 
rights,  and  in  the  tremendous  jealousy  which 
kept  men  from  being  willing  to  yield  any  power 


INDIVIDUALISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES    139 

they  could  help  to  the  central  authority.  So 
far  as  France  influenced  political  theory  her 
influence  was  all  on  this  side. 

For  among  the  French  Encyclopedists  there 
was  a  marked  revival  of  the  old  Roman  Stoic 
philosophy,  with  its  emphasis  upon  individual 
rights  and  a  natural  order.  The  ethics  of  au- 
thority in  the  Church  had  gone  almost  alto- 
gether under  the  scorn  and  ridicule  of  the  edu- 
cated, and  Stoicism  took  its  place.  On  the  eco- 
nomic side  this  philosophy  found  expression  in 
the  work  of  Fra^ois  Quesnay  (1694-1774),  the 
physician  to  Louis  XV  and  the  real  founder 
of  the  French  Physiocrats,  whose  work  in  the 
Encyclopedia  and  elsewhere  was  of  great 
value.1  They  based  their  philosophy  upon  the 
faith  that  all  wealth  came  from  the  soil,  and  that 
each  man  was  entitled  to  free  trade,  freedom 
of  person,  opinion,  property,  and  exchange. 
All  our  evils  sprang,  they  said,  from  unwhole- 
some interference  by  the  state  with  the  natural 
rights  of  the  individual.  Taxes  should  be  only 
upon  the  land,  and  landlordism  was  only  a 
burden.  They  were  the  real  authors  of  the 
laissez-faire  school,  and  Adam  Smith  only 
adapted  their  thinking  to  the  times  in  England. 
Their  theories  were  swamped  at  the  Eevolu- 


lThe  reader  is  referred  to  Gustav  Cohn's  "History  of  Political 
Economy"  (Eng.  tr.  by  Hill)  or  Ingram's  "History  of  Political 
Economy." 


140  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tion,  but  they  commanded  the  attention  of  the 
educated  few.1 

Unfortunately,  the  teachings  of  Quesnay,  so 
wholesome  for  France,  where  all  land  was  mo- 
nopolized, affected  American  life  only  where  it 
was  least  needed.  No  one  dreamed  in  the  days 
of  the  early  Republic  that  land  could  ever  be 
really  a  monopoly  in  the  United  States.  The 
real  teaching  of  the  school  fell  unheeded,  for  it 
referred  mainly  to  wholesome  methods  of  taxa- 
tion. Even  if  they  had  been  understood  the 
American  farmer  would  have  revolted  against 
the  idea  of  the  government  being  the  universal 
landlord  in  the  way  the  physiocrats  taught.  The 
revolt  from  feudalism  was  complete,  the  farmer 
thought.  He  never  dreamed  of  millions  of  acres 
mortgaged  to  foreign  landholders  across  the 
sea.  The  revival  of  Stoic  emphasis  upon  free- 
dom and  natural  rights  was,  however,  a  wel- 
come war  cry  in  the  struggle  against  England. 

Religious  life  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
warm  and  vigorous  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. Deism  and  decayed  Puritanism,  with  a 
Tory  Episcopacy,  did  not  make  a  combination 
calculated  to  rouse  enthusiasm.  The  evangel- 
ical revival  which  was  already  on  the  horizon 
had  not  yet  dawned.  The  ethical  life  found  its 
basis  not  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  so  much  as 

^Turgot,  Abb6  Bandeau,  Marquis  Mirabeau,  and  many  others 
accepted  the  conclusions  of  Quesnay. 


INDIVIDUALISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES    141 

in  classic  paganism.  This  classic  basis  reflects 
itself  in  the  colonial  building  and  in  the  colonial 
literature.  The  founders  of  the  Republic  were 
often  deeply  religious  men,  but  the  religion 
was  that  of  the  Roman  Stoics.  It  is  a  mark  of 
this  Stoicism  that  cosmopolitanism  has  stamped 
upon  it  individualism.  The  family  group  had 
broken  down  in  the  Roman  slave  empire.  The 
man  stood  alone,  and  sought  his  consolation  in 
haughty  independence  and  proud  self-assertion. 

The  Christian  Church  was  often  practically 
dominated  by  these  classic  ideals,  and  to  this 
day  Stoic  paganism  often  resounds  in  evan- 
gelical pulpits  with  the  words  of  Jesus  as  a  peg 
upon  which  the  teaching  is  hung.  The  social 
life  was  dominated,  therefore,  by  a  practical 
paganism  under  Church  forms.  Episcopacy 
was  often  feudal,  aristocratic,  and  Tory. 
Presbyterianism  was  prevailingly  intellectual, 
dogmatic,  and  legal.  Congregationalism  was 
much  under  the  influence  of  a  cold,  hard  legal 
type  of  Puritanism.  Individual  exceptions 
were,  of  course,  striking  and  numerous.  But 
the  social  influence  of  organized  Christianity 
seems  to  have  been  slight,  awaiting  the  great 
evangelical  movement  which  awoke  with  Metho- 
dism and  the  Baptists  in  the  forefront  of  a  new 
battle  for  a  really  Christian  world. 

Yet  even  evangelicalism  addressed  itself  to 
the  individual  life,  and  taught  a  strongly  indi- 


142  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

vidualistic  gospel.  It  sought  to  bring  the  soul 
and  God  together,  and  treated  salvation  as  an 
intimate  private  matter.  Salvation,  it  taught, 
should  indeed  result  in  a  man's  doing  good  to 
his  fellow  men.  At  the  same  time,  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth  was  not  made  the  goal  of  sal- 
vation. Nor  did  evangelicalism  deal  much  with 
the  thought  of  a  redeemed  group  and  a  re- 
deemed national  and  political  life.  Particularly 
American  evangelicalism  remained  a  gospel  of 
personal  extrication  from  ruins  for  which  it 
felt  little  responsibility.  This  individualism 
was  often  narrow  and  selfish,  and  affected  un- 
favorably the  social  attitude  of  the  organized 
churches  toward  great  and  growing  evils,  such 
as  slavery  and  intemperance.  It  marked  also 
the  policy  of  the  churches,  making  the  scramble 
for  good  locations  and  rich  pew-holders  a  mis- 
erable reproach  to  the  name  of  Jesus.  In  the 
quite  proper  emphasis  upon  personal  responsi- 
bility and  the  moral  dignity  of  manhood,  as 
well  as  the  ethical  autonomy  of  the  real  Chris- 
tian, organized  evangelical  Christianity  not 
only  neglected  other  values,  but  even  almost 
forgot  the  thing  she  was  sent  to  proclaim  and 
for  which  she  so  earnestly  prayed. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  SOCIAL  PEOPOSALS  OF  ANARCHY 

THE  thoughtful  Christian  man  will  not  let  the 
popular  wrath  against  social  and  revolutionary 
violence  blind  him  to  any  good  that  there  may 
be  in  the  sober  proposals  of  men  of  seeming 
good  will.  The  insensate  anarchy  of  violence 
will  not  be  put  down  by  foolish  and  equally  in- 
sensate and  indiscriminate  attack. 

Out  of  the  loins  of  American  individualism 
has  sprung  a  sober  idealistic  individualistic 
social  proposal  which  for  want  of  a  better  name 
the  writer  proposes  to  call  atomistic  anarchy. 
It  had  its  herald  in  the  writings  of  Josiah 
Warren,1  who  was  followed  by  such  extreme 
individualist  teachings  as  those  of  Stephen  P. 
Andrews  and  Colonel  "William  P.  Greene.  None 
of  these  men  used  the  name  anarchy,  so  far  as 
the  writer  knows.  But  as  a  philosophy  of  life 
and  under  this  name  anarchy  has  been  formu- 
lated by  Benjamin  E.  Tucker.2 

The  foundation  of  all  individualistic  think- 
ing is  that  man  is  the  atom,  the  unit  of  society. 
The  individual  has  his  rights,  and  morality  and 

i  "True  Civilization"  (1846);  "Equitable  Commerce." 
a  Editor  of  "Liberty." 

143 


144  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

political  wisdom  demand  for  the  individual  all 
freedom  to  do  as  he  pleases  so  long  as  he  is  not 
interfering  with  the  freedom  of  other  men  to  do 
as  they  please.  Anarchy  says  that  as  that  gov- 
ernment is  best  that  governs  least,  so  the  best 
government  of  all  is  no  government  at  all.  It 
simply  follows  up  Adam  Smith,  Eicardo,  Her- 
bert Spencer,  and  all  laissez-faire  teachers  to 
the  logic  of  their  premises.  This  atomistic  an- 
archy rejects  all  coercive  government.  The 
moral  man  will  not  be  an  aggressor  upon  his 
neighbor's  liberty,  and  voluntary  association 
for  the  protection  of  liberty  will  be  sufficient 
to  keep  the  peace.  As  no  man  has  the  right  to 
coerce  his  fellow  man,  so  no  number  of  men 
have  any  right  to  coerce  their  fellow  man. 
Basing  its  ethics  upon  the  moral  autonomy 
of  Kant,  it  proclaims  all  external  coercion 
as  essentially  immoral,  and  traces  most  of  the 
evils  of  society  to  a  coercive  rule  over  the  lives 
of  men. 

The  philosophy  is  clear-cut,  and  far  more 
respectable  than  the  somewhat  muddled  think- 
ing of  Herbert  Spencer.  The  ethics  are  bold 
and  the  economic  speculation  most  attractive. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  as  a  philosophy  utterly 
unsound.  Man  is  not  the  unit  of  society,  but 
the  man-woman-child  group.  All  the  evils  that 
are  so  elaborately  traced  to  coercion  only  spring 
from  loveless  coercion.  The  fact  that  the  gov- 


THE  PROPOSALS  OF  ANARCHY  145 

ernmental  type  of  coercion  is  loveless  does  in- 
deed condemn  it,  but  coercion  need  not  be,  and 
increasingly  is  felt  not  to  be,  loveless.  The 
mother's  coercion  of  her  child  may  be  unwise, 
but  if  it  is  loving  coercion  it  will  neither  harden 
nor  demoralize. 

Moral  autonomy  is  the  goal  and  not  the 
foundation  of  society.  It  is  what  we  aim  at. 
But  society  will  never  be  wholly  composed  of 
morally  autonomous  adults,  and  therefore  a 
place  for  loving  coercion  will  always  exist.  Al- 
most everything  charged  against  the  cold  and 
sometimes  brutal  coercion  of  the  commonplace 
political  government  is  true.  At  the  same  time, 
all  political  coercion  is  not  loveless,  and  increas- 
ingly we  may  hope  that  it  will  become  ethical 
(children's  courts,  probation  officers,  etc.).  No 
Christian  citizen  should  fail  to  read,  if  he  have 
a  chance,  Governor  Altgeld's  little  tract  "Our 
Penal  Machinery  and  Its  Victims."  But  the 
remedy  is  not  to  remove  the  whole  machinery 
as  anarchy  would  do,  but  to  make  it  the  ex- 
pression of  communal  love.  This  Altgeld  saw 
plainly,  and  his  protest  is  against  loveless 
force. 

It  is  the  weakness  of  all  individualist  think- 
ing, that  it  starts  with  maturity,  while  life  be- 
gins with  infancy  and  ignorance.  If  we  had  a 
completely  moral  society  perhaps  anarchy 
would  work,  but  any  machinery  would  work 


146  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

under  such  circumstances.  What  we  actually 
deal  with  is  an  ignorant  imperfectly  moralized 
life  set  to  aid  and  instruct  a  still  more  ignorant 
and  helpless  and  wholly  unmoralized  infancy. 
Herbert  Spencer's  "Education"  advocates  a 
scheme  that  would  be  socially  far  too  costly. 
We  cannot  let  children  burn  off  their  hands  at 
red-hot  stoves  in  order  to  teach  them  not  to 
touch  red-hot  stoves.  We  cannot  let  ignorant 
unmoralized  men  fling  bombs  about  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  sooner  or  later  see  the  folly  of  it. 
Coercion,  as  Herbert  Spencer  himself  sees,  is 
a  part  of  life.  For  the  religious  man  the  co- 
ercions of  life  are  personal.  He  has  the  same 
confidence  in  the  All-Father  that  the  child  has 
in  the  parent ;  and  save  in  circumstances  of  ex- 
ceptional unwisdom  and  brutality  the  coercions 
of  a  parent  do  not  harden  or  embitter.  The 
coercions  of  an  even  partially  moralized  group 
might  have  the  same  effect,  and  in  fact  do  have 
in  many  instances  the  same  effect.  Loving 
moralized  coercion  would  have  no  serious  ob- 
jection raised  against  it  even  if  not  always 
equally  wise.  What  we  actually  see  in  our  police 
courts,  in  our  jails  and  prisons,  is  loveless  and 
often  lawless  coercion.  Seeing  this,  anarchy 
would  throw  out  the  child  with  the  bath.  What 
is  really  needed  is  the  moralizing  of  our  co- 
ercions and  not  an  impossible  plea  for  their 
entire  discontinuance.  Such  discontinuance 


THE  PROPOSALS  OF  ANARCHY  147 

would  expose  the  weak  and  timid  to  even 
greater  violence  and  injustice  than  they  suffer 
now. 

Moreover,  from  the  Christian  point  of  view 
the  emphasis  upon  the  individual  is  a  false  one. 
Self-expression  and  individual  liberty  are  not 
for  the  Christian  man  the  ends  of  life.  No  man 
liveth  to  himself.  Our  life  is  a  means  to  an 
end  and  receives  its  highest  content  as  a  means 
to  the  kingdom  purpose.  Of  course,  individual- 
istic anarchy  is,  at  this  point,  frankly  pagan. 
It  is  highly  ethical  and  often  deeply  and  pro- 
foundly religious,  but  its  ethics  are  from  pagan 
Eome,  and  its  religion  is  vague  and  utterly 
nonchristian  or  even  antichristian.  Here  is 
frankly  a  complete  difference  in  ideals.  The 
really  Christian  man  lives  the  life  of  service  and 
finds  his  highest  joy  in  it.  That,  according  to 
Christ,  is  the  measure  of  faith.  In  losing  life 
for  the  sake  of  others,  he  believes  that  he  finds 
life.  This  is  meaningless  to  the  convinced  in- 
dividualist. For  such  a  one  even  wife  and  child 
may  become  such  a  hindrance  to  self-expres- 
sion, such  a  limitation  to  his  liberty,  that  the 
highest  morality  demands  their  desertion.  Not 
that  he  may  not  be  the  most  devoted  of  hus- 
bands and  kindest  of  fathers,  but  again  he  may 
not  be,  and  the  question  may  be  one  rather  of 
temperament  than  of  ethics.  So  Goethe  was 
morally  at  his  height  when  self-expression  de- 


148  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

manded  the  artistic  ruin  of  maiden  innocence, 
and  he  suffered  for  art's  sake! 

Such  questions  are,  of  course,  in  the  last 
analysis  matters  of  our  judgments  as  to  what 
has  value  in  life.  Only  it  must  be  clearly  recog- 
nized that  the  Christian  estimate  is  one  thing, 
and  the  anarchist  estimate  is  another.  Indi- 
vidualism may  be  right,  but  if  so  Christ  Jesus 
was  wrong.  And  however  lofty  and  noble  and 
inspiring  the  Stoicism  of  old  Eome  may  be,  at 
least  it  was  a  different  nobility  and  another 
inspiration  from  that  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
religion. 

Now,  the  Christian  pulpit  is  often,  in  fact, 
tempted  to  really  preach  a  weak  and  half- 
hearted individualism,  and  to  mingle  the  ethics 
of  anarchy  with  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  No 
mistake  could  be  greater.  To  get  a  man  to  save 
himself  first,  and  then  go  to  work  to  save  others, 
is  the  wrong  way  to  go  about  the  Father 's  busi- 
ness. The  man  that  starts  in  to  save  the  .group 
and  redeem  others  will  get  all  the  salvation 
he  really  needs  as  a  by-product — that  is,  if  he 
starts  in  about  it  as  Jesus  did.  This  was  the 
great  lesson  the  Moravians  taught  John  Wes- 
ley, and  he  never  forgot  it.  The  taunt  of 
Christ's  enemies  should  be  true  of  every  Chris- 
tian— he  saved  others,  himself  he  could  not 
save. 

The  anarchist  indictment  of  our  coercive  gov- 


THE  PROPOSALS  OF  ANARCHY  149 

ernment  is  a  terrible  one.  He  who  has  looked 
into  some  of  our  county  jails  has  looked  into 
hell.  But  the  indictment  assumes  that  coercive 
government  is  the  cause,  whereas  we  have  no 
experience  of  any  other,  and,  alas!  find  every- 
where oppression,  wrong,  and  cruelty.  So  far 
as  we  dare  call  ourselves  Christian  we  are  re- 
sponsible for  these  things.  At  the  same  time, 
Christian  love  has  never  had  a  chance  to  organ- 
ize society  any  more  than  atomistic  anarchy. 
In  each  case  faith  alone  sees  the  outcome.  What 
the  signs  of  the  time  are  as  indicating  the 
speedy  triumph  of  one  or  other  each  must  read 
for  himself.  The  churchly  imperialism  of  the 
Middle  Ages  was  not  Christianity,  nor  is  as  yet 
any  modern  state  a  complete  expression  of  the 
kingdom  purpose  of  redeeming  love. 

There  is  another  type  of  anarchy  that  might 
appeal  in  some  respects  more  strongly  to  the 
Christian  than  the  self-centered  individualism 
of  atomistic  anarchy.  This  type  may  be  called 
communistic  anarchy.  Although  here  too  the 
individual  is  in  the  foreground,  yet  the  empha- 
sis is  more  distinctly  upon  the  voluntary  group. 

The  reason  for  this  may,  perhaps,  be  found 
in  the  influence  that  the  primitive  group  forma- 
tion of  the  "rnir"  in  Russia,  and  the  guild  of 
the  Middle  Ages  has  exercised  over  the  minds 
of  the  leaders.  Michael  Bakouine  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  father  of  the  movement,  and  un- 


150  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

fortunately  he  committed  the  movement  to  an 
"anarchy  of  deed"  in  a  way  that  has  hidden  its 
real  message  from  even  thoughtful  men.  The 
movement  was  at  first  associated  with  com- 
munistic socialism,  until  in  1872  Karl  Marx, 
who  realized  the  utter  incongruity  of  the  two 
fundamental  philosophies  that  underlay  com- 
munistic anarchy  and  socialism,  separated  the 
movements,  and  from  that  on  Marxian  socialism 
and  communistic  anarchy  have  had  little  in 
common.  The  later  leaders,  like  Prince  Peter 
Kropotkin  and  Elisee  Eeclus,  have  not  made 
violence  a  part  of  their  program  although 
recognizing  revolution  as  a  possible  feature  of 
the  tactics  of  the  party. 

Communistic  anarchy  does  not  so  much  start 
with  the  individual  as  with  voluntary  group 
production,  and  communism,  therefore,  is  the 
instrument  of  production.  It  was  at  this  point 
that  the  early  leaders  found  in  the  Interna- 
tional scope  for  their  agitation.  They,  however, 
turned  away  with  disgust  from  the  almost  mili- 
tary discipline  that  Karl  Marx  was  bent  upon 
making  a  part  of  the  social  democratic  tactics. 
For  them  this  amounted  to  a  denial  of  "lib- 
erty," and  a  reassertion  of  the  principle  of 
authority,  against  which  their  main  protest  was 
directed.  And  strangely  enough  in  the  fan- 
tastic brains  of  some  of  them  the  thought  finds 
place  that  they  can  "coerce"  society  into  be- 


THE  PROPOSALS  OF  ANARCHY  151 

coming  "noncoercive,"  and  that  this  can  be 
accomplished  by  isolated  outrages  which  have 
only  served  to  strengthen  and  make  more  arbi- 
trary the  power  society  is  willing  to  intrust 
to  the  police.  The  policy  of  outrage  was  born 
of  the  bitterness  undoubted  wrongs  and  in- 
justice have  engendered  in  the  minds  of  sincere 
but  misguided  fanaticism. 

The  ethics,  however,  that  underlie  the  serious 
contributions  of  men  like  Kropotkin  and 
Eeclus  are  not  by  any  means  contemptible. 
They  reveal  their  Hegelian  training  and  their 
origin  in  Proudhon,  as  well  as  later  Kantian 
influences.  For  their  thought  the  robbing  of  the 
community  of  the  necessary  access  to  the  in- 
struments of  production  is  the  crime  of  history, 
and  all  moral  evils  they  trace  to  this  "crime." 
There  can  be  no  morality  without  absolute  in- 
dividual freedom.  So  also  only  autonomous 
voluntary  groups  can  be  really  moral.  As  all 
identify  religion  with  "authority,"  they  turn 
away  from  it,  but  assert  the  highest  life  to  be 
one  of  love,  fellowship,  peace,  and  cooperation. 
The  family  is  the  foundation  of  the  communis- 
tic group,  but  that  the  family  may  be  really 
moral  the  relationship  must  be  free.  Love  must 
be  the  sole  basis  of  monogamy,  and  not  force. 
As  soon  as  force  is  made  a  substitute  for  love 
the  relationship  is  immoral.  They  think  mo- 
nogamy natural,  and  only  the  immoral  relations 


152  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

introduced  by  commercialism  and  greed  and 
maintained  by  coercion  are  responsible  for  the 
breaking  up  of  the  family  life  in  middle-class 
commercialism. 

The  ultimate  conception  of  society  is  a  freely 
organized  communism,  in  which  all  human 
powers  have  full  play  and  in  which  love  and 
science  will  go  hand  in  hand  for  the  furtherance 
of  the  ideal  life.  All  wrong,  injustice,  greed,  ag- 
gression, violence,  and  fraud  will  stop  so  soon 
as  all  share  freely  in  the  enormous  production 
voluntary  communism  will,  they  think,  call  out. 

With  the  economic  objections,  and  particu- 
larly with  the  historical  material  dealing  with 
communistic  production,  we  are  not  here  con- 
cerned. 

Undoubtedly  there  are  points  of  contact  be- 
tween the  early  hopes  of  Christianity  and  com- 
munistic anarchy.  Even  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion shows  how  divine  violence  and  catastro- 
phic revolution  stirred  the  blood  of  hunted  and 
outraged  Christians.  At  the  same  time  never 
was  the  word  of  Jesus  revealed  more  plainly 
in  its  divine  wisdom  than  when  he  said,  "For 
all  they  that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the 
sword."  The  spasmodic  and  fruitless  violence 
of  the  revolutionary  communistic  anarchy  of 
early  days  has  done  more  to  strengthen  reaction 
and  encourage  men  in  lawless  and  loveless  co- 
ercion than  reams  of  social  refutation  of 


THE  PROPOSALS  OF  ANARCHY  153 

anarchist  theory.  Every  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  on  the  part  of  the  group  reacts 
at  once  when  a  bomb  is  thrown,  killing  gen- 
erally more  harmless  and  innocent  bystanders 
than  those  really  responsible,  even  in  the  minds 
of  fanatics,  for  our  social  evils. 

Nor  can  the  really  thinking  men  and  women 
of  to-day  be  largely  persuaded  that  a  group  of 
men  strong  enough  to  coerce  all  society  by 
bombs  into  obedience  to  their  theory  can  be 
trusted  to  organize  society  on  the  high  ideal 
platform  they  proclaim.  And  this  doubt  is 
strengthened  as  one  notes  the  high-handed 
tyranny  the  anarchistic  social  labor  group  re- 
veal in  their  organization,  most  of  their  time 
and  energy  being  spent  apparently  in  ''expel- 
ling" recalcitrant  members. 

And  yet  this  platform  is  less  selfish  and  indi- 
vidual than  that  of  the  coldly  intellectual  atom- 
istic anarchy.  The  works  of  Kropotkin,  like 
"Mutual  Aid"  and  "Fields,  Factories,  and 
Workshops,"  cannot  be  neglected  by  the  seri- 
ously minded  student  of  social  reorganization 
with  a  view  to  the  coming  kingdom.  The  diffi- 
culty is  again  with  the  fundamental  attitude 
toward  all  government.  With  all  its  faults  gov- 
ernment has  been  the  culture-bearing  instru- 
ment. The  moralization,  and  not  the  abolish- 
ment of  the  government,  is  the  goal.  Even 
Nero's  tyranny  was  better  than  the  lawless 


154  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

anarchy  that  preceded  Rome 's  rule.  It  may  well 
be  that  coercive  government,  save  for  children 
and  pathological  criminals,  might  have  no  place 
in  a  moralized  group.  Yet  the  fact  remains 
that  even  bad  governments,  such  as  that  of 
Turkey  and  China,  historically  have  made  for 
righteousness,  and  have  their  support,  not,  as 
the  anarchist  believes,  in  pure  force,  but  in  the 
normal  psychological  reaction  of  the  individ- 
ual to  the  group  authority. 

With,  therefore,  both  the  philosophy  and  the 
tactics  and  its  estimate  of  the  meaning  of  gov- 
ernment and  life  the  Christian  man  finds  him- 
self hopelessly  out  of  accord,  however  much  a 
loving,  voluntary,  noncoercive  government  on 
the  basis  of  a  loving  moralized  family  may  ap- 
peal to  him  also  as  a  most  fitting  expression  of 
God's  kingdom  here  on  earth. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  INDIVIDUALISM  OF  SINGLE  TAX 

THE  philosophy  of  Henry  George  was  born 
upon  American  soil,  and  is  a  product  of  the 
individualistic  thinking  so  characteristic  of  life 
in  the  United  States. 

In  the  remarkable  work  "  Progress  and  Pov- 
erty" three  separate  elements  are  to  be  dis- 
tinguished. There  is,  first,  the  underlying  phi- 
losophy of  life;  then  there  are  the  economic 
assumptions,  and,  thirdly,  the  proposed  remedy. 

The  Christian  man  has,  probably,  more  con- 
tacts with  the  advocates  of  the  single-tax  move- 
ment than  with  almost  any  other  social  pro- 
posal, for  it  has  sprung  from  the  same  great 
middle-class  movement  whence  the  larger  Prot- 
estant denominations  also  have  their  main 
strength.  In  almost  every  congregation  of 
really  thoughtful  Christians  advocates  of  the 
single  tax  may  now  be  found.  It  is  of  impor- 
tance, then,  to  relate  the  movement  to  our 
dream  of  the  coming  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

And  although  the  economic  side  is  not  our 
main  interest,  the  first  thing  a  thoughtful  Chris- 
tian man  should  do  is  to  really  take  pains  to 
find  out  what  is  actually  proposed. 

155 


156  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

The  movement  is  generally  strongly  anti- 
socialistic,  because  the  individual,  and  not  the 
producing  group,  is  the  center  of  interest. 
Henry  George  accepts  the  postulate  of  the 
French  physiocrats.  Free  land,  he  says,  will 
give  us  free  men.  The  single-taxer  strongly 
insists  upon  the  division  between  the  land  as  the 
common  opportunity  for  all  production,  and 
the  private  property  of  the  individual  in  what 
he  produces.  The  group  has  a  moral  right  to 
demand  rent  for  what  it  should  possess  in  com- 
mon, which  is  land ;  but  what  a  man  produces  is 
the  result  of  his  labor — to  that  no  one  has  a 
right  but  himself. 

The  single-tax  philosophy  as  held  by  Henry 
George,  Louis  Post,  and  others  is  that  of  natural 
rights.  To  the  product  of  the  individual  the 
individual  alone  has  a  right;  to  the  things  the 
individual  does  not  create,  but  which  are  given 
—land,  including  all  natural  resources,  such  as 
mines,  oil  wells,  forests,  etc. — the  community 
has  a  "natural  right,"  and  then  there  are  also 
values  created  by  the  community.  No  one  indi- 
vidual has  made  the  land  of  Manhattan  Island 
of  such  enormous  worth.  It  is  from  these 
"values"  which  the  community  has  created 
that  the  community  has  a  natural  right  to  draw 
its  revenue. 

In  this  philosophy  the  individual  is  the  central 
figure.  The  ethics  of  the  single-tax  movement 


SINGLE  TAX  157 

are  always  distinctly  individualistic.  The 
clearest  presentation  of  this  philosophy  and  its 
ethics  is  by  Mr.  Louis  Post  in  his  work  ' '  Ethics 
of  Democracy. ' ' *  The  movement  is  also  full 
of  ethical  enthusiasm.  The  evils  of  society  are 
traced  to  our  infringement  of  natural  laws.  The 
community  takes  in  taxation  values  to  which  it 
has  no  right,  and  leaves  to  private  owners 
values  to  which  they  have  no  right.  This  re- 
sults in  all  sorts  of  unjust  and  oppressive  mo- 
nopoly; for  the  possession  of  the  communal 
values  gives  private  individuals  a  power  of  tax- 
ation to  which  they  are  not  entitled. 

The  economics  are  worked  out  by  Henry 
George,  but  somewhat  imperfectly,  and  with 
some  concessions  he  need  not  in  strict  logic 
make.  With  the  economics  we  are,  of  course, 
only  in  a  secondary  way  interested. 

Now,  the  remedy  proposed  is  that  the  com- 
munity reclaim  by  a  single  tax  on  land  values, 
that  is,  on  the  rental  value  of  land,  its  over- 
lordship  of  the  industrial  opportunities  God 
gave  to  all,  .and  which  the  community  should 
hold  in  trust  for  all.  Single  tax  would  not 
interfere  with  private  possession  of  land  and 
natural  resources,  but  distinguishes  between 
permanent  tenure  and  private  ownership.  The 
community  has  a  right  to  ask  rent  in  proportion 

1  Louis  F.   Post,   "Ethics  of  Democracy"    (Chicago,  2d  ed., 
1903).    Compare  especially  Part  I  and  Part  II  and  Part  V. 


158  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

to  the  industrial  opportunity.  It  has  no  right 
to  the  values  the  individual  creates.  These  be- 
long to  him. 

This  brings  in  a  word  which  has  hitherto 
been,  as  far  as  possible,  carefully  avoided  in 
these  pages.  The  foundation  of  the  social  hope 
of  individualism  is  faith  in  competition.  The 
progress  of  society  depends,  it  is  claimed,  upon 
free  competition.  There  cannot,  however,  be 
free  competition  while  some  own  the  right  of 
access  to  the  industrial  and  agricultural  oppor- 
tunities, and  can  tax  their  fellow  men  for  the 
right  to  work  God's  earth.  At  this  point  single 
tax  takes  up  the  hope  of  the  Manchester  indi- 
vidualism, but  shows  where  that  hope  betrayed 
the  school,  seeing  that  free  trade  without  free 
access  to  the  industrial  and  agricultural  oppor- 
tunity was  a  relative  farce. 

The  work  of  Charles  Darwin  has  given  great 
force  to  the  contention  that  life  is  a  struggle  in 
which  the  fittest  out  of  vast  numbers  succeed, 
while  the  relatively  unfit  go  down  in  the  strug- 
gle, thus  leading  men  ever  upward  to  larger 
and  freer  life.  With  this  struggle  the  indi- 
vidualist philosophy,  as  it  underlies  the  Man- 
chester school's  thinking,  and  the  single  tax, 
would  not  interfere  but  would  demand  only  "a 
square  deal,"  to  use  the  sporting  term  drawn 
from  the  card  table.  Of  course,  if  the  natural 
resources  are  a  monopoly  of  the  few  there  can 


SINGLE  TAX  159 

be  no  even  race.  "With  ninety  per  cent  of  the 
land  in  England  in  the  hands  of  less  than  ten 
per  cent  of  the  population,  it  is  evident  that  the 
race  for  material  possession  does  not  start 
fairly.  The  competition  is  begun  with  numbers 
heavily  handicapped  by  ignorance,  poverty, 
poor  food,  narrow  surroundings,  etc.  The 
single-tax  advocate  hopes  by  throwing  open  all 
the  natural  opportunities  of  wealth  to  any 
energy  fit  to  use  those  opportunities,  first,  to 
enormously  increase  production,  so  that  pov- 
erty would  cease  to  be  possible,  and,  secondly, 
to  so  greatly  stimulate  the  struggle  among  the 
really  capable  that  efficiency  now  squandered 
by  society  will  come  easily  to  its  own,  and  all 
the  science  and  art  that  give  us  mastery  over 
the  world  will  reap  the  benefit. 

The  appeal  is  a  very  powerful  one.  The 
evils  of  land  monopoly  are  patent.  London  is 
choked  by  barren  and  relatively  unused  land, 
while  her  population  starves  for  air  and  light 
and  slaves  to  pay  parasitic  landlordism  and 
burdensome  land  speculation  profits  that  are 
stained  by  the  blood  of  dying  mothers  and  con- 
sumptive children.  The  same  is  true  of  every 
great  city,  and  indeed  of  town  and  village.  The 
man  who  improves  his  property  is  promptly 
fined  by  increased  taxation,  while  the  idle  land 
reaps  the  benefit.  Great  sums  of  money  are 
wasted  holding  land  idle  that  never  pays  any 


160  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

profit  when  at  last  sold,  and  which  could  have 
supported  in  the  meantime  a  great  industrious 
population.  Everywhere  that  even  an  approach 
to  land-value  taxation  has  been  tried  the  re- 
sults, as  in  Germany,  have  been  fairly  startling. 
As  an  economic  measure  the  single  tax  has  won 
its  way  to  serious  respect  and  consideration, 
and  no  Christian  man  has  done  his  full  duty  to 
the  kingdom  dream  who  has  not  weighed  its 
claims  and  sought  to  discover  the  truth  that 
underlies  it.1 

At  the  same  time,  while  we  may  even  accept 
the  economic  measure  as  perhaps  the  most 
promising  and  least  revolutionary  reform  pro- 
posal, it  is  well  for  us  to  ask  ourselves  whether 
the  underlying  philosophy  of  competition  must 
not  be  considered  and  perhaps  restated  before 
the  Christian  man  can  accept  it. 

It  shares,  in  the  first  place,  the  weakness  of 
the  outlook  of  anarchy  upon  life  that  it  begins 
with  the  adult  as  the  unit  of  society,  whereas 
in  point  of  fact  this  is  unhistorical  and  un- 
psychological.  The  real  unit  of  society  is  the 
man-woman-child  group.  There  history  and 
ethics  and  religion  historically  start. 

Then,  again,  Darwin's  law  of  the  survival 
of  the  fittest  does  not  indicate  who  are  the  "fit." 
The  competitive  economic  struggle  crushed  out 


1  This  side  of  the  question  may  best  be  studied  in  Thomas 
Shearman's  "Natural  Taxation." 


SINGLE  TAX  161 

Jesus.  It  has,  indeed,  produced  " successful" 
types.  But  are  we  really  seeking  as  the  end 
of  human  life  supremely  powerful,  grasping, 
organizing  men  of  economic  ability?  Is  ''suc- 
cess" in  the  existing  social  and  commercial 
world  a  passport  to  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth  as  Jesus  painted  it  ?  Even  if  we  flung  the 
race  open  under  fairer  conditions  what  types 
would  come  to  the  fore? 

The  Christian  man  must  ask  himself  what  he 
means  by  competition.  Emulation  may  be,  in- 
deed, a  necessary  stimulus  to  exertion.  We 
wish  to  paint,  or  write,  or  run,  or  play  as  well  as 
possible  to  us.  The  Greek  games  gave  prizes 
very  freely,  and  the  vanquished  athletes  got 
health  and  courage  even  in  defeat.  The  Eoman 
show  was  bloody,  deadly,  and  wholly  demoral- 
izing. Even  the  victor  often  came  away  bear- 
ing disabling  wounds  to  his  grave.  This  is, 
alas!  the  picture  of  our  existing  commercial 
scramble.  Why?  Because  the  end  of  that  kind 
of  competition  is  the  exclusion  of  the  compet- 
itor to  whom  we  are  opposed.  Even  if  land 
were  thrown  open  to  the  energy  best  able  to 
use  it  and  pay  for  it,  the  quantity  is  limited. 
Energy  could  thinkably  so  occupy  it  that  the 
relatively  weak  would  be  at  their  mercy  then 
as  now.  Perhaps  not.  But  the  theory  is  at 
fault.  Competition  is  not  the  spring  of  man's 
highest  activity.  It  did  not  organize  the 


162  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

thought  of  Jesus  or  of  Paul.  The  fittest  to 
survive  are  often  the  children  of  sweet  and 
gentle  mothers  to  whom  even  the  thought  of 
the  most  harmless  emulation  never  occurred. 

The  earliest  competition  excluded  the  oppos- 
ing competitor  with  a  club.  That  was  wasteful, 
and  as  soon  as  wandering  savages  settled  down 
on  the  land  they  made  slaves  instead  of  killing. 
As  men  became  merciful  they  did  not  like  to 
see  their  slaves  starve,  and  rid  themselves  of 
some  responsibilities  by  serfdom.  So  rose  the 
great  Eoman  estates.  The  wage  system  is  more 
economical  still,  but  under  all  states  lies  the  un- 
moralized  struggle  for  economic  advantage  and 
the  subordination  of  human  life  to  our  purpose. 
This  is  fundamentally  immoral  from  the  Chris- 
tian point  of  view.  The  individual  lives  not 
for  himself  but  for  the  group,  the  man-woman- 
child  group.  This  group,  also,  lives  not  for 
itself  but  for  the  larger  group,  and  all  for  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

The  moral  appeal  of  single  tax  is  therefore 
strongest  when  it  is  made  on  the  basis  of  the 
communal  property  in  our  natural  resources, 
and  is  weakest  when  the  "rights"  of  the  indi- 
vidual are  made  the  starting  point.  Social  ex- 
perience, indeed,  recognizes  the  rights  of  the 
individual  as  a  most  valuable  social  asset,  but 
as  long  as  society  claims  the  right  to  send  its 
members  on  to  the  battlefield  to  die  for  the 


SINGLE  TAX  163 

group,  so  long  men  instinctively  feel  that  all 
individual  rights  are  subordinated  finally  to  the 
group. 

This  was  the  distinct  teaching  of  Jesus.  He 
never  dealt  with  the  economic  and  philosophical 
aspects  of  the  question  of  private  property  and 
economic  competition.  But  he  looked  at  life 
religiously.  Life  was,  for  him,  stewardship. 
To  resolve  this  stewardship  into  an  economic 
struggle  for  private  property  would  have  been 
for  him  unthinkable.  Our  present  social  order 
so  far  at  it  is  commercial  competition  for  per- 
sonal economic  advantage,  with  profits  as  a 
stimulus  to  action,  and  private  possession  of 
the  wealth-producing  opportunities  as  its  goal, 
would  have  been  to  Jesus  as  abhorrent  as  was 
the  military  aristocracy  of  Eome  or  the  super- 
cilious theocracy  at  Jerusalem. 

The  wise  Christian  critic  of  the  single  tax 
will  therefore  disassociate  the  philosophy  from 
the  economic  measure.  He  may  accept  the  eco- 
nomic measure  as  justified  by  common  sense, 
social  expediency,  and  what  he  knows  of  eco- 
nomics. It  is  a  serious  and  important  question 
which  these  pages  can  only  lay  before  him.  He 
must  decide  the  main  question  in  the  light  of 
the  kingdom  purpose,  asking  himself  whether 
this  is  a  wise  and  just  economic  measure  for 
advancing  the  reign  of  loving  justice  among 
men.  And,  as  we  have  said,  no  really  Christian 


164  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

man  can  afford  to  pass  the  question  by  without 
most  serious  consideration.  This  considera- 
tion must  also  be  unselfish  and  broad-minded. 
He  must  ask  himself,  '  *  Do  I  get  any  undue  ad- 
vantage over  my  economically  weaker  brothers 
and  sisters  through  land  monopoly?  and  if  so, 
will  a  single  tax  on  land  values  help  to  break 
that  monopoly?"  If  the  answer  is  "Yes"  to 
this  last  question,  the  answer  "Yes"  to  the 
first  should  not  stop  him  in  his  advocacy  of  a 
measure  which  in  that  case  were  sheer  justice 
and  love. 

NOTE. — The  modern  single-tax  advocates 
realize  that  there  are  communal  values  that 
must  always  remain  more  or  less  excluded  from 
free  competition,  as  railway  franchises,  tele- 
graph wires,  telephone  service,  etc.  These  most 
of  them  would  now  "socialize"  as  they  would 
the  land,  paying,  perhaps,  even  more  than  the 
current  price  for  the  sake  of  communal  con- 
trol. At  the  same  time,  even  here  they  are  in- 
clined to  trust  as  much  as  possible  to  individual 
initiative  and  to  free  competition.  Compare 
Oliver  E.  Trowbridge,  "Bisocialism,"  and 
Henry  George,  Jr.,  *  *  The  Menace  of  Privilege. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XVI 

INDIVIDUALISM  AND  DEMOCEACY 

CALVIN,  who  was  a  pretty  thoroughgoing 
aristocrat  in  thought  and  feeling,  has  defined 
democracy  as  "The  rule  of  the  many  in  which 
every  man  has  power."  A  pure  democracy 
would,  of  course,  be  one  in  which  there  was 
equality  in  political  power.  And  yet  even  a 
politically  pure  democracy  could  only  become 
essential  democracy  when  economic  equality  en- 
abled each  man  to  freely  use  his  political  power. 
Walt  Whitman  defines  democracy  as  the  de- 
sire to  have  nothing  which  the  next  man  may 
not  have  the  counterpart  of  at  the  same  price. 

The  Constitution  holds  up  as  an  ideal  a  state 
in  which  all  men  are  born  free  and  (politically) 
equal.  As  slavery  was  recognized  this  was  only 
an  ideal.  Government  was  rested  by  the  same 
group  of  men  upon  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned. All  this  is  felt  instinctively  to  somehow 
ring  false.  Most  of  us  feel  that  even  politically 
we  are  not  either  free  or  equal,  and  that  we  have 
never  really  assented  to  the  particular  govern- 
ment under  which  we  happen  to  live.  In  fact, 
many  of  us  are  politically  too  ignorant  to  either 
dissent  or  assent. 

165 


166  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

The  danger  the  founders  of  the  American 
Eepublic  feared  was  the  tyranny  on  the  one 
hand  of  the  mob,  and  on  the  other  of  the  tyrant. 
They  knew  enough  of  history  to  realize  the  close 
relationship  between  the  two.  The  French  Rev- 
olution produced  and  made  possible  Napoleon. 
The  violence  of  revolution  in  Russia  has  made 
the  reaction  to  autocracy  possible.  The  kill- 
ing of  the  police  in  Chicago  has  made  the  Amer- 
ican public  willing  to  intrust  power  to  police- 
men that  not  even  Prussia  permits.  Individual- 
ism constantly  forgets  that  submission  to 
authority  is  a  psychological  reaction  absolutely 
essential  during  the  long  years  of  human  im- 
maturity. Fiske  has  pointed  out  the  almost 
incalculable  influence  upon  our  life  exercised 
by  the  long  period  of  dependence  of  the  child 
upon  the  parents  and  group.  The  menace  of 
tyranny  is  great  because  the  large  part  of  the 
average  life  must  be  led  under  the  conditions 
of  a  more  or  less  benevolent  tyranny.  De- 
Morgan  in  " Alice  for  Short"  has  a  touching 
analysis  of  the  love  and  dependence  of  an 
abused,  ill-treated  child  in  its  relation  to  the 
parents.  No  abuse  hopelessly  alienates  a  dog's 
affection  for  its  master,  and  seemingly  no  out- 
rage completely  undermines  the  touching  con- 
fidence of  the  mass  of  men  in  the  existing 
authority,  whether  in  Turkey  or  Russia  or  New 
York. 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  DEMOCRACY  167 

Society  is  not  an  aggregate  of  disassociated 
units.  It  may  not  be  properly  called  an  organ- 
ism, but  it  is  an  organization,  and  an  organiza- 
tion that  is  not  chance  nor  a  voluntary  affair, 
nor  yet  a  contract.  It  is  an  authoritative 
group,  with  all  degrees  of  maturity  from  help- 
less infancy  to  powerful,  well-developed  per- 
sonalities. The  nominal  power  is  seldom  in  the 
same  hands  that  yield  the  real  power.  The 
experts  in  Russia's  history  are  not  agreed 
among  themselves  to-day  upon  who  is  really 
ruling  Russia.  The  ideal  government  would 
be  that,  no  doubt,  in  which  political  power  would 
be  given  in  exact  proportion  to  those  who  were 
morally  and  intellectually  the  maturest  and 
most  efficient.  This  ideal  we  cannot,  at  present, 
realize,  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  no  human 
wisdom  can  really  determine  grades  of  moral 
and  intellectual  maturity. 

Even  the  most  extreme  individualism  would 
not  give  babies  in  arms  a  vote.  But  the  time 
when  a  baby  becomes  an  adult  no  one  can  fix. 
Some  never  become  adults,  even  living  to  be 
old  men  and  women.  Democracy  must  always 
remain  a  relative  thing.  It  should  be  the  goal 
of  our  political  ambition. 

And  for  this  reason :  So  far  as  we  are  Chris- 
tian men  and  women  we  seek  fellowship  as  sons 
and  daughters  of  God  with  our  Father.  Our 
faith  is  that  life's  process  is  education  for  that 


168  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

full  fellowship  and  communion  with  him.  The 
Protestant  Christian  ideal  is  not  the  contempla- 
tive life ;  it  is  not  being  ''swallowed  up  in  God's 
being,"  or  quiescent  enjoyment  of  him  forever. 
Ai  ifc  best  in  Luther.  JZLTvndale.  in  John-Wss- 
Tftv  if.  IH  fftHQTyghip  in  the  redeeming  activity 
of  Jesus  Christ.  We  fill  out  in  our  bodies  that 
"which  is  lacking  of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church. 
We  share  beyond  the  grave  somehow,  some- 
where, God 's  eternal  life.  Hence  the  end  of  edu- 
cation is  adult  maturity  and  autonomous  activ- 
ity. Political  power  is  a  means  to  this  end  as 
well  as  an  end  in  itself.  When  at  twenty-one 
we  send  a  boy  to  the  polls  we  do  not,  or  ought 
not,  to  say  to  him  simply,  "You  may  go."  We 
ought  to  say,  "You  are  morally  bound  to  go. 
You  can  achieve  real  political  autonomy  only 
by  exercising  your  political  right."  It  is  ab- 
surd to  think  that  the  immature  boy  of  twenty- 
one  is  the  political  equal  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  but  all  the  more  necessary  is  it 
that  he  vote  equally  with  the  President  that  by 
exercising  his  power  he  may  reach  the  same  ma- 
turity. 

Thus  God  has  intrusted  us  all  with  power  far 
beyond  our  real  capacity.  What  a  mess  we 
have  made  of  our  so-called  civilization!  How 
suggestively  witty  is  Edward  Carpenter's  title, 
' '  Civilization :  Its  Cause  and  Cure ! ' '  The  chief 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  DEMOCRACY  169 

difficulty  with  aristocracy  is,  not  that  it  has  no 
faith  in  the  people,  but  that  it  has  no  real  faith 
in  the  divine  ideal.  It  does  not  share  God's 
hope  that  all  men  and  women  may  become  fit 
for  his  highest  fellowship. 

One  of  the  finest  democrats  in  Christian  his- 
tory since  Paul  was  the  highly  cultured  and 
most  learned  fellow  of  aristocratic  Oxford — 
John  Wesley.  One  may  read  his  diary  from 
cover  to  cover  and  never  really  find  out  to  what 
"economic  class"  he  was  preaching,  save  for 
incidental  references  to  this  or  that  circum- 
stance. All  were  to  him  "souls,"  potential 
kings  and  priests  of  the  Most  High.  And  all 
his  wonderful  talent  for  organization  he  put 
into  the  task  of  raising  up  men  and  women 
trained  for  propaganda.  The  Church  was  no 
"ark  of  comfortable  safety  for  the  soul";  it 
was  God's  instrument  for  redeeming  the  world, 
and  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  it  was  in 
it  to  be  trained  for  the  redemptive  work.  This 
was,  as  we  have  seen  before,  the  fundamental 
note  of  his  class-meeting  system.  The  class 
leader  was  not  simply  probing  into  the  souls 
of  men  and  women  to  find  out  what  was  there, 
but  experience  and  testimony  were  to  fit  all  for 
redemptive  service  outside.  He  raised  great 
leaders  by  giving  men  leadership.  With  all  his 
seeming  autocracy,  he  really  left  the  organiza- 
tion most  wisely  to  its  own  way.  For  his  au- 


170  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

thority  was  purely  a  means  to  an  end,  and  that 
end  was  autonomy  and  Christian  maturity. 

Aristocracy  would  sacrifice  the  discipline  of 
life  for  the  many  to  an  ideal  of  efficiency  of  the 
few;  moral  and  intellectual  efficiency,  so  self- 
sufficient  that  it  can  permanently  guide  the 
relatively  inefficient.  Thus  large  numbers  are 
condemned  to  a  permanent  childhood.  They 
are  taught  to  find  their  happiness  in  the  light- 
heartedness  of  children.  The  slave  population 
of  the  South  before  the  war,  outside  the  great 
cotton  belt  where  they  were  commercially  ex- 
ploited, was  probably  more  light-hearted  and 
gayer  than  that  population  is  now.  The  Eoman 
Catholic  Church  knows  no  adult  years  for  its 
lay  membership,  and  offers  to  carry  a  load  that 
weighs  heavily  at  times  on  timid  Protestants. 
Few  of  us  really  like  to  either  think  for  our- 
selves or  wield  power  and  take  its  responsibility. 
We  like  to  sit  back  and  criticise  like  naughty 
incapable  children,  but  only  very  few  are  really 
''masterful."  The  result  is  that  men  are  easily 
subjected  to  tyranny.  It  is  easy  to  establish 
government,  but  exceedingly  difficult  to  estab- 
lish self-government.  But  for  men's  souls' 
sake  we  must  learn  to  take  all  the  moral  risks 
of  immaturity.  The  mother  bird  pushes  her 
little  fluttering,  unwilling  offspring  off  the  roofj 
because  it  must  learn  at  last  to  fly  and  fee< 
itself.  It  was  good  for  the  disciples  that  Jesui 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  DEMOCRACY  171 

went  away.  They  had  to  learn  not  to  go  to 
sleep  in  Gethsemane,  and  to  take  up  themselves 
the  work  of  the  kingdom. 

The  real  democrat  sees,  then,  in  human  moral 
autonomy  a  more  real  value  than  any  amount 
of  permanent  economic  efficiency.  And  even 
bad  government  that  is  training  men  for  ma- 
turity is  better  than  good  government  that 
leaves  the  large  proportion  contented  children. 
A  benevolent  tyranny  is  hopelessly  inefficient 
for  the  production  of  the  highest  values — ma- 
ture men  and  women.  Hence  all  tyranny  has 
in  God's  good  providence  the  seeds  of  rotten- 
ness in  it.  No  man  and  no  God  is  good  enough 
or  wise  enough  to  really  rule  a  son  of  God  as  a 
puppet  or  permanent  playtoy.  This  is  the  pro- 
found truth  of  all  individualism.  The  wildest 
anarchy  would  have  a  potential  value  greater 
than  a  peace  bought  with  the  price  of  man's 
surrender  of  his  moral  autonomy.  God  is  a 
Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship 
him  in  the  same  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  all  down 
the  ages  God  has  been  seeking  kindred  souls  to 
worship  and  fellowship  with  him. 

Indirectly  Calvinism  has  done  much  to  ad- 
vance democracy,  but  its  ideal  is  not  democratic. 
It  reverted  too  strongly  to  the  conception  of  a 
sacramental  Church  with  a  ministry  holding 
the  power  of  the  keys  and  excluding  the  lay 
element  from  all  the  higher  functions  of  the 


172  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Church.  It  knows  no  "lay"  element  in  either 
its  ruling  or  its  preaching  ministry.  Its  courts 
have  no  "laymen."  Its  highest  councils  ex- 
clude all  "laymen."  Its  thought  of  God  is  all 
too  often  autocratic,  kingly,  and  based  rather 
upon  the  Old  Testament 's  revelation  of  Jehovah 
than  upon  the  revelation  of  God  our  Father  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  failure  of  individualism  is  that  it  so 
often  seems  to  forget  that  authority  may  have 
a  place,  nay,  must  have  a  place,  in  training  men 
for  maturity.  The  Christian  democrat  may  be 
intrusted  with  power  if  he  use  it  not  to  simply 
promote  economic  efficiency,  but  to  raise  up 
self-governing  men  and  women.  As  soon  as  au- 
thority is  thought  of  as  an  end  in  itself,  or  as 
soon  as  the  strong  man  begins  to  sacrifice  the 
many,  however  benevolently,  to  a  lesser  ideal, 
then  tyranny  begins.  Moral  decay  is  as  sure 
to  set  in  as  that  night  follows  day.  All  author- 
ity, therefore,  to  be  wholesome  looks  forward 
to  its  own  supersession,  and  carefully  provides 
for  the  trying  moments  of  self-maintenance. 
That  we  will  always  have  the  poor  and  the  in- 
efficient, the  child  and  the  weakling  with  us  may 
be  true,  but  only  that  we  may  transform  the 
poor  and  the  inefficient,  the  child  and  the  weak- 
ling into  strong  men  and  women  as  far  as  in  us 
lies.  They  need  not  always  be  the  same  poor 
and  the  same  children. 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  DEMOCRACY  173 

The  truly  Christian  man  should  be  a  democrat 
in  this  sense.  For  he  believes  in  the  eternal 
priceless  character  of  each  human  being.  He 
does  not,  indeed,  start  with  a  society  of  mature 
adults.  This  is  unreal  and  unhistorical.  He 
starts  with  the  little  family  group,  but  at  once 
realizes  that  the  end  of  the  group  life  is  the 
training  of  all  parents  and  children  for  larger 
and  larger  liberty.  It  is  that  liberty  which 
comes  only  from  self-control  and  the  cultivation 
of  those  inner  compulsions  which  at  last  give 
mastery  over  life  and  death  in  the  name  of  the 
Father  of  life. 

This  kind  of  Protestantism  is  serious  busi- 
ness. It  turns  absolutely  away  from  the 
tyranny  of  all  merely  outward  authority.  The 
authorities  over  life  must  speak  to  our  inward 
sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  the  informed  spirit. 
The  parent  trains  the  child  to  do  at  last  its 
own  thinking  at  the  peril  of  wrong  thinking. 
The  Church  trains  its  members  to  obey  God 
rather  than  it  or  men.  The  ministry  refuses 
to  be  a  priesthood,  and  renounces  all  claim  to 
infallible  leadership  or  to  stand  between  the 
child  and  its  Father  God.  Traditions  must  all 
be  tested  again  and  again  and  by  each  genera- 
tion. The  dangers  are  obvious  and  real.  Life 
is  a  tremendous  venture  of  faith.  That  life, 
however,  is  best  guarded  where  its  ultimate 


174  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

autonomy  is  the  goal  of  its  education.  The 
cloister  is  no  longer  possible,  even  if  it  ever 
effectively  protected.  Sooner  or  later  the  boy 
or  girl  must  launch  out  on  the  stormy  sea  of  life, 
and  the  compass  and  chart  must  be  in  the  ship, 
and  the  boy  and  girl  must  be  able  to  use  them 
for  themselves. 

Few  of  us  really  like  to  be  Protestants.  "We 
would  like  the  minister,  or  the  class  leader,  or 
the  parent  to  tell  us  what  to  believe  and  what 
we  are  to  do.  Particularly  in  the  things  that 
are  a  little  removed  from  the  center  of  our  in- 
terest we  would  like  to  have  final  authority. 
We  hunger  for  something  we  do  not  have  to 
think  out  for  ourselves.  But  nothing  has  moral 
value  for  us  that  we  have  not  made  our  own. 
We  must  in  this  sense  be  tremendous  individual- 
ists. We  get  all  the  advice  we  can,  we  inform 
ourselves  as  fully  as  possible,  in  all  nonessen- 
tial  matters  we  bow  to  the  will  of  the  majority. 
But  at  the  heart  of  the  matter  there  is  only  one 
voice  that  can  categorically  command,  and  that 
is  God's  voice  in  our  own  inner  conscience. 

And  what  we  demand  for  ourselves  we  de- 
mand for  others.  We  want  autonomous  matur- 
ity for  all  adult  men  and  women.  This  is  our 
ambition  and  our  goal.  It  is  a  mark  of  the 
kingdom  life.  Thus  we  become  Christian  dem- 
ocrats on  the  basis  of  the  group.  The  group 
exists  for  the  individual  in  this  sense,  just  as 


INDIVIDUALISM  AND  DEMOCRACY           175 

the  individual  lives  for  the  group.  The  end  of 
the  group  life  is  the  autonomy  of  the  individual, 
not  a  permanent  group  tyranny.  Government 
becomes  the  servant  of  the  autonomous  group. 
The  kingdom  is  a  kingdom  of  moral  ends. 

Every  political  measure  the  Christian  man 
weighs,  anxiously  asking,  "What  does  that 
mean  for  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth?"  He 
must  read  the  lessons  of  history,  he  must  weigh 
social  loving  expediency.  He  asks  himself, 
"What  effect  will  this  measure  have  in  making 
effective  citizens  of  the  kingdom  of  God  1  When 
shall  the  boy  vote?  Who  has  a  duty  to  exer- 
cise the  franchise?  What  machinery  will  best 
express  the  moral  life  of  the  community  I  What 
political  party  promises  most  for  the  future  of 
the  kingdom?"  There  are  for  the  Christian 
man  no  "secular"  questions.  The  goal  is  a 
kingdom  of  God  with  free  citizenship  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  AND  ITS  PKOPOSALS 

ALL  our  knowledge  rests  ultimately  upon  our 
experience.  Any  explanation  of  life  is  an  in- 
terpretation of  our  experience.  The  religious 
man  finds  in  his  experience  things  he  must  re- 
late in  some  way  to  all  the  rest  of  life.  He 
has  no  quarrel  with  any  genuine  search  for 
truth  in  any  field,  but  also  demands  that  any 
explanation  of  life  offered  to  him  for  accept- 
ance take  in  all  the  facts,  and  no  facts  does  he 
find  more  omnipresent  than  the  religious  facts 
and  religious  experience. 

As  far  back  as  search  has  taken  us  man  seems 
to  have  had  some  sort  of  religious  faith.  The 
dead  are  given  food  for  the  life  beyond,  and 
some  sort  of  communal  meal  with  the  gods  is 
seemingly  as  early  as  any  custom  we  can  trace. 
Thus  also  the  progress  of  man  upward  has  been 
steadily  accompanied  by  all  kinds  of  religious 
acts.  These  are  usually  acts  of  the  group.  No 
doubt  the  thoughts  of  God  are  often  childish 
and  relatively  unworthy.  But  we  are  all  chil- 
dren and  think,  no  doubt,  even  now  unworthily 
of  God.  What  we  do  see,  however,  is  life  or- 
ganized in  group  relationships,  and  that  the 

176 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  177 

thought  of  God  is  always  connected  with  this 
group  relationship. 

From  the  earliest  appearance  of  complicated 
life  the  male-female-child  group  forms  the 
basis  for  all  progress.  There  are  all  sorts  of 
differences  in  the  relations  of  that  group.  Even 
in  humanity  the  composition  of  the  group  varies 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  life.  At  certain 
stages  polygamy,  polyandry,  descent  through 
the  woman,  etc.,  mark  the  formation  of  the 
group.  The  direction,  however,  seems  steadily 
to  be  toward  monogamy,  and  the  guarding  of 
the  immature  life  makes  monogamy  more  than 
ever  essential  to  the  higher  life  as  the  period  of 
immaturity  is  lengthened  by  new  demands. 
The  simple  wants  of  savage  life  can  be  met  by 
the  boy  as  soon  as  the  cortex  of  his  brain  is  firm 
enough  to  give  him  fair  control  of  his  muscles. 
To-day  the  demands  of  the  higher  life  would 
almost  at  once  exhaust  such  resources.  The 
boy  in  a  great  city  should  be  carefully  guarded 
and  taught  and  protected  against  great  nervous 
strains  long  after  the  little  savage  would  have 
entered  upon  the  mature  life. 

This  group  life  not  only  serves  the  purpose 
of  moralizing  the  young,  the  parents  are  them- 
selves by  it  made  ethical.  Love  is  called  out, 
the  whole  tribal  group  gains  in  moral  depth 
from  the  affections  cultivated  by  this  guardian- 
ship of  the  young.  The  really  unphilosophical 


178  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

character  of  all  proposals  to  remove  children 
from  their  parents  and  bring  them  up  under 
the  state  is  made  evident  when  one  reflects  upon 
the  enormously  important  functions  of  parental 
affection  even  though  it  may  not  be  as  wise  as 
the  collective  wisdom  would  be. 

Moreover,  as  we  have  seen,  coercion  is  nec- 
essary in  order  to  reap  the  benefit  of  social  ex- 
perience. The  immature  child  must  obey,  and 
that  at  times  unquestioningly.  A  dozen  times 
the  hen  may  call  her  chickens  uselessly  under 
her  wings  because  her  silly  head  has  mistaken 
a  crow  for  a  hawk,  but  if  an  overprecocious 
chicken  too  quickly  tries  to  rationalize  life,  and 
refuses  to  be  fooled  again,  that  is  the  chicken 
the  hawk  gets.  Even  the  most  foolish  parental 
care  is  better  than  the  hopeless  blank  in  the 
mind  of  the  immature. 

Social  experience  is  handed  down  as  increas- 
ing instinctive  acquirement;  it  is  also  handed 
down  as  unrationalized  tradition.  The  last 
stage  is  the  handing  down  of  social  experience 
in  elaborate  rationalized  hypothesis.  Educa- 
tion largely  consists  in  putting  the  immature 
in  a  position  to  profit  by  social  experience,  and 
themselves  in  increasing  degree  to  resolve  the 
heritage  thus  gained  into  working  maxims  for 
their  own  and  future  generations.  Hence  the 
overwhelming  importance  of  good  traditions. 
A  good  rowing  tradition  will  keep  a  college  in 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  179 

Oxford  at  the  head  of  the  river  until  some  other 
college  enters  into  the  tradition  and  perhaps 
improves  upon  it.  For  the 'same  reason  proper 
methods  by  which  intellectual  analysis  will  en- 
able us  to  separate  the  good  from  the  bad,  to 
follow  up  real  trains  of  conditions,  to  act  ra- 
tionally and  yet  independently,  constitute  the 
largest  part  of  a  real  education.  In  ever 
greater  measure  the  young  of  the  group  must 
be  taught  to  think  for  themselves,  because  as 
life  becomes  increasingly  complicated  adjust- 
ment to  its  conditions  requires  ever  greater 
mental  capacity. 

Love  and  religion  have  been  the  great  motive 
forces  within  the  group  that  have  kept,  as  it 
were,  the  higher  life  steadily  advancing.  Eco- 
nomic necessity  is  a  wide  term.  The  mere  get- 
ting of  food  is  a  basis,  but  only  a  basis,  for  life. 
Imperative  sexual  impulses,  and  all  manner  of 
intellectual  and  artistic  demands,  social  needs 
as  well  as  personal  requirements,  become  at 
times  so  important  that  even  food  seems  a  rela- 
tive good.  The  man  who  dies  for  his  love  or 
his  religion,  for  his  art  or  intellectual  integrity, 
reveals  the  possible  secondary  character  of 
what  is  normally  primary  in  life. 

In  the  Old  Testament  we  have  a  most  won- 
derful picture  of  the  social  group  held  together 
under  the  most  extraordinary  difficulties  by 
religious  faith  and  family  affection.  The  men- 


180  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tal  superiority  of  the  Jewish  race  is  closely  as- 
sociated to  this  day  with  its  training  of  the 
young  in  the  religious  traditions  of  a  memorable 
past.  The  social  force  of  religious  faith  has 
had  many  illustrations  all  down  history,  but 
none  quite  comparable  with  that  in  the  Old 
Testament. 

The  thought  of  a  Messianic  kingdom,  a  reign 
of  loving  righteousness,  was  a  steadily  increas- 
ing power  in  Jewish  thought  from  the  eighth 
century  before  Christ  down  to  the  fall  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  conception  was  also  fundamentally 
democratic,  for  God  was  thought  of  in  terms 
of  national  Fatherhood,  at  least  when  religious 
thought  was  at  its  best  in  Isaiah.  The  national 
group  was,  of  course,  in  the  forground,  but 
when  the  religious  feeling  was  purest  and  high- 
est the  national  group  existed  for  the  sake  of 
revealing  Jehovah  to  the  world,  and  men  would 
stream  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship  Jehovah  the 
God  of  Israel.  Even  when  scattered  and  sep- 
arated the  Jewish  people  kept  the  religious 
group  in  mind,  and  the  synagogue  became  not 
only  the  center  of  the  religious  life  but  of  the 
intellectual  life  suffused  by  religious  faith. 
Materialism  makes  large  claims  for  the  future, 
but  those  claims  rest  on  faith  and  guesses  and 
not  on  the  facts  of  human  life.  Up  to  the  pres- 
ent, at  least,  the  progress  of  the  group  is  at 
every  stage  marked  by  a  religious  life  that  has 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  181 

suffused  and  given  constancy  to  the  higher  life. 
Education  has  been  religious.  The  national  life 
has  been  religious.  Art  has  been  religious.  The 
literature  and  songs  of  the  race  are  prevail- 
ingly religious. 

It  is  curious,  therefore,  that  men  pretending 
to  be  scientific  and  historical,  to  rest  only  upon 
experience  and  facts,  should  not  more  diligently 
seek  to  know  the  facts,  and  ask  themselves 
more  seriously,  "What  is  the  underlying  truth 
of  the  religious  social  experience?"  Even  if 
each  economic  stage  produces  its  own  type  of 
religious  experience,  as  may  be,  with  great 
show  of  reason,  contended,  then  the  question 
arises,  What  kind  of  religion  has  permanent 
value,  and  what  type  will  the  new  economic  sit- 
uation men  now  dream  about  produce  ? 

One  social  function  of  religion  has  been  the 
uniting  the  group  on  a  basis  even  more  unshak- 
able than  that  of  blood  or  tongue.  In  view  of 
religious  wars  it  may  seem  to  some  a  mockery 
to  speak  of  the  unifying  force  of  religion  as  one 
supreme  social  function.  But  religious  wars  are 
just  the  evidence  of  this.  No  wars  have  been 
so  bitter  because  no  bond  holds  so  firmly  as  the 
religious  bond.  Only  religion  could  weld  the 
scattered  nomads  of  the  Arabic  peninsula  into 
the  fighting  force  they  have,  under  the  influence 
of  religion,  time  and  again  become.  No  other 
bond  has  resisted  all  sorts  of  pressure,  includ- 


182  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ing  economic  pressure  of  the  severest  kind. 
The  masters  of  society  have  not  invented  re- 
ligion, but  they  have  always  used  or  misused 
it.  When  Rome  became  cosmopolitan,  and  lost 
her  simple  tribal  religious  organization,  the 
Roman  emperors  sought  vainly  for  some  re- 
ligion powerful  enough  to  hold  the  empire 
together,  and  the  only  one  strong  enough  was 
the  great  proletariat  religion  that  called  itself 
Christian.  At  the  time  Constantino  subsidized^ 
it,  it  was  already  exceedingly  corrupt.  Never- 
theless it  did  the  work  he  intended.  And  the 
reconstruction  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
empires  is  lasting  historical  evidence  of 
the  tremendous  social  force  of  the  religious 
bond. 

The  socially  thinking  historian  must  there- 
fore take  religion  into  account,  and  reckon  with 
the  certainty  that  whatever  else  happens  for 
generations  religion  is  going  to  function, 
whether  he  likes  it  or  no,  and  that  the  main 
question  is  therefore,  How  will  it  function,  and 
what  religious  form  promises  the  highest  social 
result  ? 

It  is  easy  to  predict  the  decay  and  disap- 
pearance of  religion,  but  there  are  as  yet  no 
signs  of  this.  It  pervades  life  now  as  ever. 
Relatively  indifferent  masses  have  always  ex- 
isted, and  exist  now.  But  there  is  no  conclusive 
evidence  that  they  are  greater  now  than  at  any 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  183 

time,  and  a  good  deal  of  evidence  that  looks  the 
other  way. 

We  must  therefore  review  the  social  pro- 
posals with  the  religious  factor  constantly  in 
mind.  Indeed,  as  we  start  from  Christian  pre- 
mises it  is  important  that  we  ask  ourselves  at 
the  very  beginning,  What  was  the  social  hope 
of  early  Christianity,  and  how  did  it  affect  the 
history  of  our  economic  progress  f 

It  is  in  Christian  countries  that  the  most  rad- 
ical and  pronounced  social  proposals  for  the 
reconstruction  of  society  have  been  made.  It 
will  be  important  to  ask  ourselves,  What  pre- 
ceded the  various  types  of  socialism  which  we. 
are  called  upon  to  review?  At  the  same  time, 
our  review  can  be  short  because  Professor 
Rauschenbusch  in  his  admirable  volume  x  has 
done  the  work  so  well. 

The  alleged  communism  of  early  Christianity 
cannot  be  treated  as  an  isolated  phenomenon. 
This  primitive  communism  was  neither  the 
cause  of  the  Church's  poverty  at  Jerusalem, 
nor  had  it  any  economic  relationship  to  modern 
socialism.2  It  was  the  outcome  of  an  impulse 
of  brotherhood  made  real  and  given  the  glow 
and  power  of  new  religious  enthusiasm.  Yet 
Christianity  started  as  a  social  hope.  The 


1  Walter  Rauschenbusch,  "  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis," 
(New  York,  1907). 
« Compare  Acts  2.  43-47;  Gal.  2.  10;  Acts  5.  4;  12.  12, 


184  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

kingdom  of  God  was  to  come,  and  to  coine 
quickly.  This  meant,  of  course,  various  things 
to  various  minds,  just  as  to-day  socialism  means 
very  various  things  to  various  minds.  To  some 
early  Christians  the  reign  of  God  was  simply  a 
dramatic  revenge  for  ancient  wrongs.  God 
would  come  and  avenge  the  weak  and  op- 
pressed. To  others  it  meant  peace,  holiness,  and 
full  and  beautiful  life  for  everybody  in  the 
spirit  of  the  songs  of  Isaiah.  To  the  loftiest 
Christian  thought  it  meant  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness made  the  possession  of  all  by  the  dynamic 
of  love  working  out  brotherhood  and  forgive- 
ness in  a  God-forgiven  life. 

As  the  expectancy  of  a  speedy  coming  of 
catastrophic  change  faded,  individual  release 
and  extrication,  the  hope  of  heaven,  by  de- 
grees, came  to  take  the  place  of  the  social  hope. 
Up  to  323  A.  D.  the  Church  writers  are  exceed- 
ingly individualistic  in  their  hope  and  faith.  At 
the  same  time,  the  sacramental  organization 
never  really  ceased  to  be  a  tremendous  social 
power.  The  formulation  of  her  life  by  Cyprian 
made  of  the  Old  Catholic  Church  an  instrument 
that  was  seen  to  be  supreme  in  efficiency  as  a 
political  force. 

The  change  of  emphasis  was,  however, 
marked.  The  Church  became  an  imperial  hier- 
archy, promising  to  individuals  eternal  salva- 
tion, and  content  to  compromise  with  the  secular 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  185 

imperialism  so  long  as  her  main  purpose  was 
protected.1  The  change  is  best  marked  in 
Augustine 's  great  work ' '  The  City  of  God. ' '  In 
spite  of  all  the  great  social  service  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  which  sensible  socialists  are  now 
coming  to  acknowledge,2  it  failed  dramatically 
along  two  lines.  It  had  no  economic  knowledge, 
and  perhaps  could  not,  at  that  economic  stage, 
be  expected  to  have  it.  The  other  limita- 
tion is  more  serious — it  was  ethically  defective. 
It  had  accepted  Oriental  dualism  and  Hellen- 
istic intellectualism,  and  had  forgotten  the  theo- 
cratic democracy  of  the  Old  Testament.  Its 
ethics  were  pervaded  by  an  insidious  selfish- 
ness, and  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  deliberately 
selected  the  altruistic  and  religious  elements  in 
the  community  and  made  them  either  hypo- 
crites or  sterile. 

The  hierarchy  was  the  coveted  possession  of 
selfish  political  rulers.  The  fatal  compromise 
with  Constantine  worked  havoc  with  the  social 
ideals  of  primitive  Christianity.  And  yet  these 
ideals  were  not  dead.  And  when  the  world 
awoke,  and  the  discovery  of  America,  trade 
and  commerce,  the  printing  press  and  gun- 
powder, the  compass  and  Greek  literature  com- 
bined to  stir  men  to  new  ambitions  for  the  race, 


1  The  English  reader  may  with  profit  consult  Hatch's  "Organ- 
ization of  the  Early  Christian  Church,"  the  Bampton  Lectures 
for  1880.  2As  in  Hyndman's  recent  studies. 


186  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

within  the  Church  the  old  dream  of  a  religious 
brotherhood  reasserted  itself.  Campanella 's 
Civitas  Solis  and  Moore's  Utopia  are  but  signs 
of  the  time. 

The  Reformation  was  not  simply  a  revolt 
against  Roman  Catholicism.  It  was  a  rebirth 
of  humanity.  It  was  a  revolt  against  authority 
and  tradition  all  along  the  line  of  human  life. 
It  had  its  several  degrees  and  its  several  in- 
terests. Humanism  revolted  against  authority 
in  things  of  the  mind.  Nationalism  revolted 
against  imperial  authority  and  ecclesiastical 
tyranny.  The  Anabaptists  revolted  against  the 
authority  of  the  oppressive  oligarchies  in  both 
Church  and  State.  The  Reformers  revolted 
against  the  authority  of  Rome  in  the  religious 
life.  It  was  this  revolt  that  became  the  most 
effective  and  the  most  radical.  It  suffused  the 
political,  social,  national,  and  even  the  intellec- 
tual ideals.  Luther  and  Calvin  were  not  only 
intellectual  rebels  against  the  particular  au- 
thority of  Rome,  but  flung  their  weight  into  the 
scale  of  national  particularism  as  over  against 
the  crushing  burdens  of  imperialism.  We  have 
only  to  think  of  Luther's  letter  to  the  German 
princes,  and  Calvin's  reorganization  of  Geneva. 
Of  the  two  movements,  that  of  Luther  and  that 
of  Calvin,  the  influence  of  Luther  carried  Swe- 
den, Norway,  Finland,  Denmark,  and  North 
Germany  for  the  most  part;  whereas  Calvin- 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  18? 

ism  fought  for  and  lost  France,  but  gained 
Scotland  and  a  large  place  in  the  political  life 
of  England  and  England's  colonies.  It  also 
gained  Holland  and  a  large  place  in  Geneva. 
Of  the  political  successes  of  Calvinism  much  has 
been  written,  but  they  were  not  without  some 
grave  disadvantages. 

Its  social  hope  was  distinctly  not  democratic, 
and  in  proportion  as  it  was  politically  influential 
there  was  disappointment  among  the  demo- 
cratic forces.  It  became  the  organizing  con- 
ception of  the  great  rising  commercial  middle 
class.  Professor  Max  Weber  regards  it  as  the 
parent  of  the  capitalism  of  the  succeeding  age. 
This  seems  to  give  it  too  much  of  a  place  in  the 
social  readjustment.  It  is  perhaps  fairer  to 
say  that  it  suffused  the  ideals  of  a  class  now 
rapidly  coming  to  its  own.  It  could  do  this  only 
partially.  In  both  Holland  and  England  there 
was  a  distinct  revolt  against  the  Puritanism 
which  made  Calvinism,  its  creed. 

The  remarkable  thing  in  history  is  the  per- 
sistence of  forms  that  seem  just  on  the  eve  of 
extermination.  The  feudalism  of  the  Middle 
Ages  has  never  been  quite  overcome,  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  always  found  in 
these  feudal  and  agrarian  forces  an  ally.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Church  is  often  regarded  as 
democratic  in  the  United  States  because  of  her 
large  congregations  of  poor  people.  But  her 


188  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

social  ideal  is  an  aristocratic  paternalism,  with 
feudalism  as  the  underlying  form.  True  it  is 
that  through  her  ministry  she  opens  to  individ- 
uals a  door  of  hope  by  which  the  lowliest  peas- 
ant may  become  the  highest  figure  in  the  state. 
But  such  doors  do  not  make  democracy.  The 
king  has  always  as  feudal  overlord  exercised  the 
same  right.  The  examples  are  many  of  pretty 
peasant  girls  becoming  kings'  mistresses  and 
the  duchesses  of  the  land,  and  such  adventurers 
as  Churchill  have  always  had  open  doors  to 
them.  This  does  not  make  democracy.  The 
system  is  one  of  paternal  aristocracy.  The  lay- 
man is  always  a  ' '  child, ' '  the  hierarchy  is  per- 
manently in  loco  parentis.  There  can,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  be  no  real  democracy.  The 
goal  can  never  be  moral  autonomy  and  religious 
maturity. 

The  Reformation  only  partially  broke  with 
the  feudal  system.  Lutheranism  hardly  at- 
tempted any  effective  break,  and  became  more 
or  less  the  somewhat  subservient  and  ignoble 
tool  of  national  feudalism.  Calvinism  became 
the  religious  ideal  of  a  new  commercial  feudal- 
ism. Independency  and  the  Anabaptists  were 
too  much  disorganized,  and  still  too  much 
caught  in  a  Jewish  literalism  in  the  use  of 
Scriptures  to  give  democracy  a  working  basis 
for  its  higher  life ;  hence  the  counter-Kef orma- 
tion  of  Rome  struck  powerful  blows  at  the  new 


THE  SOCIAL  EMPHASIS  189 

life,  and  although  it  did  not  wholly  succeed  it 
wrested  for  the  time  being  almost  all  southern 
Europe  from  the  grasp  of  the  Eeformation. 

The  situation  in  England,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  not  unlike  that  in  Europe.  There  also  the 
Eeformation  began  as  a  widespread  revolt 
against  the  spiritual  tyranny  of  Rome,  but  also 
had  its  political  and  intellectual  revolts.  There 
also  Calvinism  suffused  the  political  ideals 
formed  on  the  basis  of  a  more  democratic  Lol- 
lardism,  which  in  its  inception  had  been  pro- 
letariat, and  England  gave  the  world  Puritan- 
ism in  all  its  strength  and  weakness.  There, 
also,  feudalism  revived  and,  more  or  less  linked 
with  High  Church  Catholicism,  maintained  her- 
self in  England,  and  more  than  once  even 
wrested  from  the  middle  class  the  political 
hegemony,  and  never  wholly  lost  a  large  place 
of  influence ;  so  that  when  the  Whig  party  made 
its  peace  with  the  Church  the  feudal  aristocracy 
largely  recovered  the  ground  lost  at  the  Revo- 
lution. In  all  these  movements  we  see  religion 
functioning  powerfully,  and  we  are  reminded 
of  the  folly  and  ignorance  that  expect  to  ignore 
religion  in  any  social  transformation  of  the 
future. 


CHAPTER  XVHI 
THE  RISE  OF  SOCIALISM 

THE  name  socialism  has  covered  a  great  mul- 
titude of  vague  reform  projects.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  now  important  to  seek  such  defini- 
tion of  the  word  as  to  bar  out  misunderstand- 
ings of  the  grosser  sort.  The  fundamental 
thought  of  modern  socialism  is  the  communal 
ownership  of  the  productive  opportunities  and 
tools.  In  this  sense  socialism  is  completely 
modern.  It  has  only  accidental  contact  with 
primitive  communism.  It  does  not  seek  to 
"divide  up."  It  regards  the  dividing  up  proc- 
ess as  having  gone  too  far.  It  does  not  seek 
to  bar  out  private  possession.  On  the  contrary, 
it  complains  that  the  vast  mass  of  men  possess 
too  little.  The  formulation  of  the  modern  so- 
cialistic demands  is  so  modern  that  the  care- 
ful thinker  and  speaker  should  avoid  saying 
that  "Jesus  was  a  socialist"  or  that  the  Church 
fathers  were  all  "socialistic."  In  the  modern 
sense  they  were  no  more  socialists  than  they 
were  free  traders  or  antivaccinationists.  Prim- 
itive group  communism  colors  their  thought,  but 
primitive  communism  is  not  modern  socialism. 

In  one  sense  the  French  Physiocrats  may 
truly  be  called  "socialistic,"  in  that  they  de- 

190 


THE  RISE  OF  SOCIALISM  191 

manded  communal  ownership  of  the  soil  as  one 
of  the  chief  industrial  opportunities.  Yet,  as 
we  have  seen,  they  did  this  in  the  interests  of 
the  individual  and  the  competitive  struggle; 
whereas  another  note  of  socialism  in  its  recent 
forms  is  that  it  seeks  consciously  to  supplant 
industrial  competition  by  industrial  cooperation. 

The  history  of  modern  socialism  has  been  so 
well  written  *  that  it  is  here  only  necessary  to 
call  attention  to  the  work  and  influence  of 
Robert  Owen,  whose  energies  were  directed  to 
the  establishment  of  cooperative  communities. 
He  realized  the  wastes,  moral  and  material,  of 
competition  and  sought  the  remedy  in  an  ex- 
tremely mechanical  and  unelastic  type  of 
cooperation.  He  farther  crippled  his  useful- 
ness in  England  by  extreme  revolt  from  an 
ecclesiastical  tyranny  whose  deadness  and  in- 
efficiency as  they  were  seen  in  the  State  Church 
are  now  matters  of  acknowledged  fact.  But  he 
underestimated  the  power  of  religion  to  re- 
assert herself,  as  in  fact  she  was  at  that  time 
already  doing,  in  the  Methodist  movement  and 
the  evangelical  revival. 

The  relative  failure  of  Owen  is  not  difficult 
to  explain.  In  the  first  instance  his  system  was 
very  mechanical  and  really  grew  up  apart  from 
all  political  experience.  He  wanted  to  divide 
England  up  into  squares,  and  institute  a  po- 

i  See  Bibliography  at  the  close  of  this  volume. 


192  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

litical  machinery  of  such  complication  that  half 
her  energies  would  have  been  absorbed  merely 
in  trying  to  understand  the  machinery.  Nor  did 
Owen  carefully  enough  distinguish  between  the 
product  and  the  productive  machinery.  His  co- 
operative system  dealt  rather  with  distribution 
than  with  production.  England  was  not  eco- 
nomically ripe  even  for  consideration  of  such 
measure  of  communism  in  the  productive  ma- 
chinery as  she  now  actually  enjoys.  Owen 
broke  his  heart  over  cooperative  colonies,  whose 
fatal  weakness  was  that  they  sought  industrial 
freedom  amid  competitive  conditions,  and  ut- 
terly failed  to  realize  that  the  social  man  is  as 
necessary  to  any  socialistic  scheme  as  the  social 
machinery,  and ^  that  social  manhood  is  very 
slowly  developed. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  what  is  now  called 
English  Christian  socialism  came  into  being. 
The  best  representative  of  this  type  of  thought 
is  Frederick  Denison  Maurice.1  His  interest 
was  religious  and  ethical  rather  than  economic. 
Nor  had  he  any  very  clear  notions  as  to  the 
special  economic  measures  needed  to  carry  into 


< 


i Pronounced  "Morris."  The  name  "Christian  Socialism"  is 
older  than  Maurice  and  is  said  to  have  occurred  in  a  letter  to  "  The 
New  World  "  in  1807.  Saint  Simon  also  linked  "  Socialism  "  and 
Christianity  together,  and  the  French  Catholic  priest  de  Lammenais 
(1782)  preached  a  primitive  communism  and  cooperative  produc- 
tion. The  best  history  is  Kaufman's.  See  also  Seligman  in  "  Polit- 
ical Science  Quarterly,"  June,  1886. 


THE  RISE  OF  SOCIALISM  193 

effect  his  social  dream.  He  and  Kingsley,  to- 
gether with  Ludlow,  a  young  lawyer,  saw  only 
that  the  unequal  competition  of  England's 
struggle  was  sowing  tears  and  misery  over 
England's  towns  and  fields.  They  were  awak- 
ened from  their  religious  peace  by  the  great 
Chartist  movement  (1837-48).  At  the  same 
time,  they  were  neither  in  the  narrower  sense 
socialists,  nor  were  they  even  thoroughgoing 
democrats.  The  cooperative  distribution  in 
which  they  saw  the  first  step  toward  economic 
liberty  was,  in  point  of  fact,  very  little  more 
than  wholesale  capitalist  business  in  a  rather 
loosely  framed  stock-company  plan.  As  this 
new,  raw  machinery  had  to  compete  with  older 
and  more  richly  capitalized  machinery,  and  had 
to  do  it  with  but  little  industrial  experience  and 
almost  no  industrial  capital,  it  is  rather  amaz- 
ing that  it  did  anything  at  all. 

It  may  seem  to  many  as  if  this  devoted  group 
of  men  had  really  accomplished  but  little.  Their 
projects  nearly  all  failed.  Their  paper  they 
had  to  abandon.  The  movement  seemed  to  end 
only  in  defeat  and  disaster. 

But  the  defeat  was  only  a  seeming  defeat. 
The  Chartist  movement,  in  spite  of  the  mild- 
ness of  its  demands,1  was,  in  point  of  fact,  ex- 


*1.  Universal  manhood  suffrage;  2.  Annual  Parliaments;  3.  Vote 
by  ballot;  4.  No  property  qualification;  5.  Payment  of  members; 
6.  Equal  voting  areas. 


194  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tremely  radical  at  many  points,  and  often  led 
by  men  bitterly  hostile  to  the  Church  and  all 
institutional  culture  (cathedrals,  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  etc.).  In  the  bitterness  of  their  de- 
feat there  is  no  saying  what  they  might  have 
taken  up  as  a  permanent  attitude,  but  Maurice 
and  his  followers  heartily  and  sincerely  felt 
with  them,  came  to  them,  and  began  to  mediate 
between  them  and  the  possessing  class.  Their 
mission  was  largely  the  interpretation  of  the 
woes  and  demands  of  the  exploited  proletariat 
to  the  dull  arrogance  of  the  ruling  class.  That 
unionism  and  socialism  in  England  to-day  are 
not  the  fiercely  antireligious  organizations  they 
often  are  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  is  largely 
the  result  of  the  Christian  socialist  movement. 

The  lectures  to  which  these  1 1  Christian  social- 
ists" gave  so  much  time  and  strength,  and 
which  interested  men  like  Euskin,  Toynbee, 
and  later  Morris  (William)  were  the  beginning 
of  that  national  instruction  which  has  made 
almost  unhoped-for  strides  since  then.  In  fact, 
it  was  out  of  the  loins  of  this  movement  that 
Fabian  socialism  sprang.  The  cooperative 
stores  that  had  their  direct  origin  in  Christian 
socialism  have  hardly  a  tithe  of  the  importance 
that  the  educational  and  inspirational  work 
had. 

Maurice  anticipated  some  of  the  most  modern 
modes  of  thought.  He  was  a  religious  "prag- 


THE  RISE  OF  SOCIALISM  195 

matist"  before  the  pragmatists.  He  looked 
out  on  life  and  sought  to  find  the  faith  that 
"worked,"  that  sustained  and  gave  life.  The 
test  of  truth  for  him  was  its  life-giving  power. 
He  saw  in  the  Old  Testament  the  search  after  a 
theocratic  democracy,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  the 
leader  into  a  new  and  perfect  brotherhood  of 
mankind.  The  economic  measures  were  but 
means  to  an  end,  and  that  end  was  social  fellow- 
ship with  God.  Thomas  Hughes,  Neale,  and 
some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  Established 
Church  came  under  his  direct  influence  and  he 
changed  the  whole  current  of  their  thought.  He 
broke  down  for  them  the  narrow  class  individ- 
ualism that  still  hampers  so  much  of  our  Prot- 
estant thought. 

At  the  same  time,  the  movement  could  not 
but  be  a  preparatory  movement.  It  was  too 
uninformed  and  too  vague  to  attract  more  than 
a  selected  few,  and  the  loose  use  of  the  term 
"socialist"  turned  from  it  many  sincere  and 
thoughtful  persons  who  realized  the  vagueness 
of  its  economic  thought  and  the  somewhat  fan- 
tastic demands  made  upon  human  beings. 

Without  this  preliminary  work,  however, 
Fabian  socialism  would  have  been  probably  im- 
possible. When  in  1884  a  band  of  enthusiastic 
seekers  after  the  higher  life  came  into  contact 
with  Marxian  socialism,  imported  from  Ger- 
many, they  felt  that  it  could  never  be  really 


196  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

made  intelligible  in  the  German  form  to  the 
stolid  and  untrained  population  of  England. 
Marxian  socialism  has  been  carried  on  the  wings 
of  the  idealistic  materialism  of  Feuerbach. 
The  Fabians  resolved  to  aim  at  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  society  by  a  long  series  of  opportunist 
measures,  all  looking  to  the  displacement  of 
private  ownership  of  the  land  and  productive 
tools,  and  the  gradual  assumption  of  ownership 
by  the  community  in  the  interests  of  all. 

The  Fabian  Society's  policy  has  been  to  sup- 
port every  movement  looking  to  the  transfer 
of  industrial  capital,  where  it  seems  to  be  pos- 
sible, from  private  to  communal  management. 
The  society  holds  regular  meetings,  and  pub- 
lishes at  intervals  tracts,1  and  some  few  books, 
like  "Essays  on  Socialism,"  have  been  pub- 
lished. It  relies,  however,  mainly  on  the  out- 
side work  of  its  membership.  And  men  like 
H.  G.  "Wells,  Bernard  Shaw,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sidney  Webb,  Percy  Alden,  and  Dr.  Stanton 
Coit  have  access  to  a  very  wide  public. 

If  an  American  thinker  has  once  been  con- 
vinced that  the  goal  of  communal  ownership  of 
the  land  and  machinery  is  the  way  to  social 
justice  and  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  tactics  of 
the  Fabian  party  are  more  likely  to  appeal  to 
him  than  the  somewhat  high-handed  and  dog- 

1Over  130  have  appeared,  many  of  the  greatest  interest.     The 
office  of  the  society  is  at  3  Clement's  Inn,  Strand,  London,  W.  C. 


THE  RISE  OF  SOCIALISM  197 

matic  tactics  of  Marxian  socialism  in  Germany. 
Nor  is  lie  confronted  at  the  start  by  the  ig- 
norance of  and  hostility  to  religion  which  is 
partly  the  Church's  fault  and  in  part  the  fault 
of  the  philosophic  history  of  the  movement. 

The  Fabian  Society  has  done  much  to  en- 
courage municipal  trading,1  and  the  municipal 
ownership  and  management  of  transit  facilities. 
The  reproach  leveled  at  them  by  Marxian  po- 
litical socialism  is  that  the  movement  is  es- 
sentially a  middle-class  movement.  And,  no 
doubt,  this  is  true.  But  the  impartial  by- 
stander can  hardly  see  why  if  the  goal  is  the 
same  this  fact  should  interfere.  However, 
Fabian  socialism  has  made  but  relatively  little 
headway  in  the  United  States,  partly  because, 
no  doubt,  the  political  conditions  are  distinctly 
different  from  those  in  England,  and  in  part, 
perhaps,  because  Marxian  socialism  is  less 
hostile  to  the  religious  life  in  America,  and 
the  same  elements  that  in  England  have  become 
Fabian  socialists  call  themselves  in  the  United 
States  "Christian  socialists,"  and  lean  to 
Marxianism.2 


1  The  sanest  statement  is  by  Bernard  Shaw,  "  Municipal  Trading." 
»  The  organ  of  this  group,  "  The  Christian  Socialist"  (5623  Drexel 

Avenue,  Chicago,  111.,  semimonthly,   50  cents  a  year),  is  out  and 

out  Marxian. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MABXIAN  SOCIALISM 

THE  commanding  influence  of  Karl  Marx  over 
the  lives  and  thoughts  of  so  large  and  intelli- 
gent a  body  of  men  compels  us  to  give  his  teach- 
ings careful  attention.  A  great  deal  of  harm 
has  been  done  to  Christianity  by  ignorant 
criticisms  of  Marxian  socialism  by  Christian 
preachers.  The  thoughtless  many  may  applaud 
some  clever  mis  statement,  but  the  thoughtful 
few  are  offended  or  irritated.  Many  socialists 
are  bitterly  antichristian,  not  because  they  know 
anything  about  Christianity,  but  because  they 
know  a  good  deal  about  some  Christian  minis- 
ters. The  sober-minded  man  wants  to  do  justice 
to  views  which  are  sincerely  held,  no  matter  how 
untenable  they  may  seem  to  him. 

The  system  of  Karl  Marx  has  three  main 
elements.  It  is  a  political  economy,  which  pro- 
fesses to  take  the  place  of  the  old  classic  po- 
litical economy,  and  which  violently  attacks 
the  political  economy  of  the  schools  as  "bour- 
geoise"  or  " middle-class"  political  thinking. 
With  the  details  of  this  dispute  the  average 
Christian  man  is  little  concerned.  We  can 
leave  much  to  the  experts  in  this  field.  But  so 

198 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  199 

far  as  possible  we  should  try  to  understand  its 
main  contentions.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  a 
theory  of  life  and  a  philosophy  of  history.  Here 
come  in  historical  elements,  which  again  we  can- 
not afford  to  ignore,  although  we  may  again 
have  to  leave  details  to  be  worked  through  more 
thoroughly  than  our  strength  or  energy  per- 
mits. And,  lastly,  it  is  a  party  tactics  and  a 
political  program. 

The  political  economy  rests  largely  on  Marx's 
theory  of  surplus  value.  The  philosophy  is 
wrapped  up  in  the  economic  or  material  inter- 
pretation of  history.  And  the  tactics  and  pro- 
gram consist  in  the  class-conscious  struggle  of 
the  proletariat  for  control  of  the  productive 
machinery. 

So  far  as  a  layman  can  set  forth  the  political 
economy  it  rests  upon  the  assumption  that 
whereas  once  the  laborer  owned  the  tools  by 
which  the  industrial  opportunity  was  exploited, 
to-day  one  class  largely  owns  the  industrial  op- 
portunity and  the  tools,  and  the  laboring  man 
has  practically  to  buy  access  to  the  productive 
machinery  to  support  himself  and  his  family. 
Where  the  opportunities  are  greater  than  the 
supply  of  labor  the  owner  of  the  opportunity 
bids  for  the  laborer,  and  wages  are  high. 
When  the  labor  supply  is  abundant,  then  the 
laborer  bids  for  the  opportunity.  As  this  hap- 
pens wages  sink  to  the  level  of  subsistence.  The 


200  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

laborer  is  so  eager  to  "get  a  job"  that  he  will 
work  for  just  enough  of  the  product  to  keep 
body  and  soul  together.  Hence  it  is  to  the 
interest  of  the  owner  of  the  opportunity  and  the 
tool  to  have  a  body  of  men  clamoring  for  work, 
for  thus  the  price  of  labor  is  reduced. 

Wealth,  according  to  this  theory,  is  not  pos- 
session. A  man  may  have  thinkably  no  posses- 
sions save  a  few  scraps  of  paper  giving  him 
legal  title  to  productive  opportunity  and  be 
very  wealthy.  Or  a  man  may  have  paint- 
ings and  jewels  and  even  gold,  and  until  he  buys 
with  it  the  right  to  get  some  of  a  laborer's 
product  he  is  not  wealthy.  Wealth  is  the  legal 
right  from  year  to  year  to  tax  the  worker  with 
the  tool  on  the  industrial  opportunity  a  certain 
percentage  of  his  product  for  the  right  to  work. 
Now,  according  to  Karl  Marx,  if  the  writer 
understands  his  political  economy — and  he  has 
taken  great  pains  to  do  so — the  organization 
of  labor  and  machinery  has  enabled  us  to  gain 
great  values  above  those  actually  needed  to 
repair  and  improve  the  machinery,  to  pay  the 
laborers  their  subsistence  wage,  to  meet  taxa- 
tion, etc.  This  surplus  value  goes  to  the  owner 
of  the  industrial  opportunity  and  the  tool.  With 
this  he  not  only  buys  new  opportunity,  but  he  is 
in  a  position  to  struggle  successfully  with  those 
whose  surplus  value  is  less  or  nil. 

The  result  of  this  is  the  constant  crowding 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  201 

out  of  the  small  owner  of  the  tool  by  compe- 
tition, and  the  steady  concentration  of  the  con- 
trol of  the  surplus  product  with  all  the  power 
it  confers  in  fewer  and  fewer  hands.  This 
system  Marx  called  capitalism.  Marxian  social- 
ism has  no  quarrel  with  capitalism  as  such. 
It  recognizes  the  effectiveness  of  capitalistic 
organization.  But  it  attacks  the  private  owner- 
ship of  capitalism,  and  thinks  that  as  the 
concentration  goes  on  steadily,  at  last  there  will 
be  a  sudden  change,  and  the  community  will 
wrest  the  control  of  capitalism  from  the  hands 
of  the  few  and  use  it  for  the  good  of  the  many. 

According  to  this  political  economy  there  is 
a  steady  lowering  of  the  wage  scale  as  the  com- 
petition for  access  to  the  machinery  grows 
greater  and  greater,  and  the  proletariat  sinks 
deeper  and  deeper  the  more  it  is  separated  from 
the  tool,  and  becomes  dependent  upon  the  owner 
of  the  tool  (or  industrial  opportunity). 

The  cycle  of  industrial  crisis  the  Marxian 
socialist  explains  as  the  inevitable  concomitant 
of  the  process  of  the  crowding  out  of  the  weak 
and  the  readjustment  of  forces,  when  the  con- 
trol is  still  further  concentrated  in  the  power- 
ful few.  Thus  each  crisis  is  usually  precipitated 
by  the  fall  of  some  one  of  the  competing  capital- 
ists, and  he  and  others  sink  from  independency 
to  a  wage  relationship.  Often  these  become  the 
highly  paid  agents  of  those  who  control  the  situ- 


202  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ation,  but  they  remain  agents.  The  once  inde- 
pendent banker  becomes  the  head  of  a  railroad 
or  a  trust  company.  The  once  independent 
manufacturer  becomes  the  highly  paid  director 
of  a  subsidiary  company.  The  smaller  man  be- 
comes the  clerk,  the  least  influential  sink  to 
labor's  position  of  selling  their  time  and  skill 
for  what  they  will  bring  in  a  severe  competition. 
Marx  includes,  of  course,  directing  intelligence 
as  labor,  and  recognizes  the  fact  that  all  that 
actually  supplies  legitimate  human  wants  is 
ministering  productively  (medicine,  newspaper 
work,  science,  etc.). 

This  process  Marx  expected  to  go  on  until  the 
control  would  be  in  so  few  hands  that  a  quiet 
and  bloodless  revolution  would  transfer  the 
power  of  the  few  to  the  many  in  the  interests  of 
all.  Thus  capitalism  would,  as  it  were,  become 
topheavy  and  the  transformation  would  become 
sure. 

Such  is  in  bare  outline  the  political  economy 
of  Karl  Marx.  The  intelligent  Christian  lay- 
man will  be  hardly  quite  satisfied  with  so  brief 
a  sketch  and  will  turn  to  the  abundant  litera- 
ture for  farther  information.1  It  is  seen  at 
once  how  elaborate  and  complicated  should  be 


i  The  chief  book  of  Karl  Marx,  "  Das  Capital,"  is  now  translated. 
There  are  also  many  simpler  explanations  of  his  system  now  printed. 
Compare  a  "  socialist "  catalogue  by  Kerr  &  Co.,  Chicago,  of  books 
on  socialism,  sent  free  for  the  stamps,  "  What  to  Read  on  Socialism.'! 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  203 

the  scientific  examination  of  so  interesting  but 
startling  a  reading  of  the  economic  situation. 
It  is  not  fair  to  dismiss  it  with  contempt.  It 
is  not  wise  to  accept  it  without  extremely  care- 
ful testing  of  the  alleged  facts.  One  asks,  "Is 
the  wage  scale  sinking?"  Organized  labor 
claims  to  be  able  to  maintain  by  strikes  and 
organization  a  wage  level,  and  has  in  this 
country  thus  far  been  a  real  barrier  against 
socialism.  The  individualist  has  much  to  say 
in  regard  to  the  returning  crisis,  and  its  rela- 
tion to  unwise  interference  with  what  he  calls 
"natural"  process.  Some  seem  to  think  that 
as  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  these  great  corpora- 
tions become  surer  and  steadier  payers  of 
interest  the  small  investor  will  buy,  and  al- 
though control  of  the  productive  tool  and  the 
industrial  opportunity  may  come  into  fewer  and 
fewer  hands,  the  basis  of  possession  will  be  by 
this  process  greatly  enlarged.  And  some  of  the 
great  corporations,  recognizing  this  situation, 
are  endeavoring  to  widen  the  basis  of  posses- 
sion by  encouraging  their  employees  to  invest 
in  the  stocks.1 

Other  individualists  have  hoped  that  the  di- 
vision of  power  in  small  electrical  plants  would 
enable  the  small  producer  to  compete,  perhaps, 
with  the  great  capitalist  system,  and  the  wastes 

» As  the  Steel  Trust  does,  for  instance,  in  regard  to  its  preferred 
stock. 


204  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

of  great  production  under  paid  agents  are,  un- 
doubtedly, very  great,  as  compared  with  the 
best  results  of  the  small  private  owner  intensely 
interested  in  economy  and  personally  supervis- 
ing the  details  of  the  business. 

The  whole  question  of  the  nature  of  rent,  of 
interest,  and  of  wage  is  at  issue.  Certainly 
Karl  Marx  seems  to  the  uninstructed  layman 
to  have  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  the  patent 
unrealities  and  scholasticisms  of  such  books  as 
those  of  Walker  and  Jevons.  But  he  has  his 
eye  fixed  upon  the  machinery  rather  than  upon 
the  land  question,  and  one  of  the  main  conten- 
tions of  a  logical  and  consistent  individualist  is 
that  in  the  competition  land  could  be  made  an 
opportunity  open  to  all  alike  by  a  rational  sys- 
tem of  taxation,  and  that  then  monopoly  of  the 
productive  machinery  would  be  impossible. 

Karl  Marx's  theory  represents  all  those  who 
get  returns  from  simple  ground  rents,  and  in 
virtue  of  their  ownership  of  the  tools  of  in- 
dustry, as  " parasitic."  Most  men  may  in  ad- 
dition superintend,  or  even  work,  but  in  so  far 
as  returns  come  from  simple  ownership  we  have 
product  consumed  without  social  return.  To 
the  wastes  of  parasitism  Marx  traces  the  pov- 
erty and  wretchedness  of  the  working  class. 
Workingmen  build  houses  in  which  they  never 
even  look  after  their  job  is  done  on  them.  They 
build  palace  railroad  cars  in  which  they  can 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  205 

never  ride.    They  grow  food  so  dainty  they  can 
themselves  never  eat  of  it.     And  productive 
labor  is  given  up  that  labor  riiayr"Be~"spent  on 
'luxury  and  idle  display. 

'That  there  is  truth  in  this  charge  no  one  can 
deny.  "When  five  full-grown  adults  devote 
themselves  exclusively  to  the  whims  and  wants 
of  a  pampered  child,  they  are  withdrawn  from 
useful  labor,  and  they  generally  spoil  the  child 
for  all  real  usefulness  in  the  world.  All  pat- 
ently unnecessary  luxury  means  not  only 
waste  of  product,  but  the  withdrawal  of  labor 
from  useful  activity.  Of  course,  luxury  is  a 
very  indefinite  term,  but  there  is  a  luxury  that 
is  mere  display  of  economic  ability  to  pay. 
That  in  large  cities,  at  least,  this  luxury  is  a 
heavy  drain  upon  the  communal  resources  is 
undoubted.  How  large  it  is,  is  a  question  po- 
litical economy  has  as  yet  hardly  asked.  What- 
ever else  Karl  Marx  has  done,  he  has  asked  us 
questions  we  must  all  consider  and  answer.  He 
should  surely  awaken  us  from  our  dogmatic 
slumbers  in  the  comfortable  untruths  of  so- 
called  "classical"  political  economy.  Whether 
his  political  economy  will  stand  the  test  of  care- 
ful and  impartial  scientific  examination  is  an- 
other question.  It  is,  at  least,  extremely  signifi- 
cant that  a  concise  and  readable  answer  at  this 
point  that  will  really  bear  examination  and  does 
not  display  fundamental  ignorance  of  Karl 


206  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Marx's  real  position  has  yet  to  be  written  in 
English.  No  doubt,  political  economy  in  the 
colleges  instructs  at  this  point,  but  the  honest 
layman  seeking  light  outside  finds  the  literature 
meager  and  unreal. 

The  second  great  element  in  Marxian  social- 
ism is  its  teaching  in  regard  to  the  economic 
interpretation  of  history.  Karl  Marx  worked 
in  an  atmosphere  created  by  the  philosophical 
speculation  of  Kant,  Hegel,  Fichte,  and  Feuer- 
bach.  It  is  hardly  just  to  call  Feuerbach  a  ma- 
terialist in  the  ordinary  English  interpretation 
of  that  term.  His  thought  was  greatly  in- 
fluenced by  the  extreme  left  of  Hegelianism  and 
bears  the  marks  of  Spinoza's  substance  with 
its  two  characteristics  of  thought  and  extension. 
But  of  these  two  Feuerbach  places  the  sub- 
stance as  extended  in  the  foremost  place,  and 
yet  his  world  is  not  a  simple  mechanism,  but  an 
intelligent  unfolding  of  thought  with  substance 
as  extended  as  the  basis  and  ultimate  reality. 
This  type  of  intellectual  materialism  is  the 
background  of  Karl  Marx's  " bread  and  butter" 
theory  of  history.  Man  demands  certain  things. 
Life  is  the  seeking  satisfaction  of  all  his  wants. 
Moreover,  the  ultimate  want  is  food  and  shelter 
and  raiment.  Life  is  therefore  a  struggle  for 
these  things.  His  theory  does  not  leave  other 
wants  out.  The  overmastering  sexual  impulse 
and  artistic  desires  are  real.  At  the  same 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  207 

time,  the  economic  factor  is  fundamental.  To 
gratify  other  wants  he  must  have  food.  In 
early  history  the  tools  and  industrial  oppor- 
tunity are  the  common  property  of  the  group, 
but  group  struggles  with  group.  From  the 
dawn  of  civilization  life  has  been  a  struggle 
for  the  tool  and  industrial  opportunity.  With 
the  incoming  of  private  property  in  the  tool 
there  has  been  a  steady  economic  struggle  for 
mastery  by  a  tool-possessing  (including  there- 
with the  industrial  opportunity — land,  etc.) 
class.  In  a  feudal  agrarian  state  the  man  who 
owned  the  land  could  make  slaves  or  serfs  of 
those  who  must  either  starve  or  work  the  land 
in  his  interest.  With  the  coming  of  the  ma- 
chine the  class  that  owns  the  machine  controls 
the  life-purpose  of  the  non-owner. 

Karl  Marx  then  seeks  to  show  that  religions, 
arts,  philosophy,  law,  and  morals  are  the  prod- 
uct of  the  master  class  and  represent  their 
interest  and  views  of  life,  and  that  this  class 
forces  its  religion  and  morality  upon  the  pro- 
ductive class  in  the  interests  of  the  ruling  class's 
ascendency.  This  is  not  done  in  full  conscious- 
ness of  the  facts.  It  is  done  instinctively.  The 
religion  and  morality  that  suits  its  fundamental 
purpose  seems  "right,"  what  does  not  is 
"wrong"  and  exceedingly  outrageous.  Thus 
subservient  classes  are  taught  by  priests  and 
teachers  essentially  dependent  upon  the  ruling 


208  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

class  that  they  must  "honor  the  king,"  that 
they  must  be  thrifty,  temperate,  industrious, 
and  honest.  And  even  though  the  parasitic  or 
semiparasitic  class  is  itself  luxurious,  idle,  often 
intemperate  and  corrupt,  it  constantly  praises 
those  virtues  which  keep  the  working  classes 
productively  efficient.  Thus  the  king  and  his 
nobles  have  concubines,  and  take  savage  per- 
sonal revenge  in  the  interests  of  their  "honor," 
yet  the  working  classes  are  taught  monogamy 
and  told  that  violence  is  a  crime. 

Thus  there  grows  up  a  haughty  aristocratic 
class  feeling  that  dominates  life  and  constructs 
a  morality  suitable  to  the  purpose  of  the  ruling 
master  class.  This  feeling  evolves  a  twofold 
morality,  one  for  the  master  class.  He  must  in 
feudal  times  be  brave,  keep  his  word  when  given 
to  his  equals,  guard  his  "honor,"  be  generous 
in  the  use  of  his  power.  He  must  exhibit  pride 
of  caste,  and  take  sharp  and  sure  revenge  for 
injury.  His  great  ethical  precept  is  "loyalty," 
On  this  word  the  aristocratic  class  exclusive 
ethics  is  almost  built.  And  instinctively  the 
aristocratic  mind  constructs  a  hierarchy  with 
loyalty  holding  this  world  together. 

His  sexual  morality  is  dominated  by  the  same 
impulse.  The  wife  who  bears  the  heir  to  the 
land  must  at  all  costs  be  kept  above  reproach, 
so  that  the  title  to  possession  may  not  be  un- 
certain. But  he  has  little  or  no  interest  in 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  209 

sexual  purity  as  such.  Hence  in  chivalry  the 
curious  mingling  of  the  wildest  license  and  the 
most  extravagant  praise  for  womanly  purity. 
This  belongs  to  the  class  morality  evolved  by  the 
possession  of  the  land  (the  industrial  oppor- 
tunity) by  the  feudal  overlords. 

At  the  same  time,  feudalism  forces  in  its  own 
interest  another  morality  upon  the  serf.  Obedi- 
ence to  law  is  commanded  by  lawless  feudal 
chiefs.  Humility  is  praised  by  proud  and 
haughty  barons.  Industry  and  frugality  are 
exalted  by  men  who  spend  their  lives  in  killing 
time  in  sport,  and  wasting  the  products  of 
others'  industry  in  fetes  and  shows  and  fashions 
in  clothes.  The  institutional  life  is  molded  to 
suit  the  interests  of  this  class.  The  Church  be- 
comes a  servant  of  the  feudal  hierarchy.  Her 
bishops  become  " lord-bishops"  and  rule  great 
estates.  The  hierarchy  reflects  the  feudal  ar- 
rangement even  in  details.  Law  follows  suit, 
and  becomes  a  mere  reflection  of  the  morality 
of  the  master  class.  Hence  laws  about  posses- 
sion are  so  greatly  in  advance  of  laws  protect- 
ing human  life. 

Then,  going  on,  Karl  Marx  tries  to  show  that 
gunpowder  and  the  machine  changed  the  empha- 
sis. It  is  no  longer  the  possession  of  the  land 
but  the  possession  of  the  tool  that  dominates 
the  situation.  Thus  there  arise  a  middle-class 
morality  and  a  middle-class  religion.  The 


210  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

substance  of  the  analysis  is  the  same.  The 
middle  class  evolve  a  morality  for  themselves. 
They  have  come  to  their  possessions  by  the 
exercise  of  certain  capacities,  and  the  virtues 
and  forces  that  gave  them  dominance  become 
their  ethical  foundation.  They  also  have 
a  double  morality.  On  the  one  hand,  they 
emphasize  the  virtues  they  need  for  themselves 
to  maintain  supremacy,  and,  on  the  other, 
the  virtues,  of  a  different  spirit,  which  the  work- 
ing class  needs  in  order  to  be  industrially  effec- 
tive and  useful  to  the  tool-owning  class.  All 
this  is  not  deliberate  conspiracy,  but  the  neces- 
sary instinctive  reaction  upon  the  surround- 
ings, and  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  struggle 
to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  tool-owning 
class. 

Thus  Karl  Marx  meets  the  objection  that 
"you  can't  change  human  nature."  In  point 
of  fact,  he  says,  morality  is  no  fixed  quantity, 
but  is  the  product  of  our  reaction  upon  the 
economic  situation,  and  each  new  economic  sit- 
uation produces  the  appropriate  morality 
needed  for  its  maintenance. 

On  the  basis  of  Feuerbach,  Marx  is  a  con- 
firmed optimist.  The  world  is  advancing  stead- 
ily to  an  ideal.  This  characteristic  of  Feuer- 
bach 's  philosophy  seems  to  some  of  his 
followers  an  unreasonable  and  unprovable 
assertion.  It  certainly  lies  in  the  domain  rather 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  211 

of  faith  than  of  historical  demonstration.  For 
complication  is  not  always  improvement,  and 
it  is  open  to  anyone  to  deny  the  superiority  of 
say  civilization  over  barbarism  (Max  Steiner, 
Edward  Carpenter). 

Indeed,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  ethical 
student  the  discussion  of  Marx's  economic  in- 
terpretation of  history  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant tasks  at  hand.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
it  is  a  system  of  economic  determinism,  and 
raises  at  once  all  the  old  theological  disputes  as 
to  free  will  and  sovereignty.  For  from  a  philo- 
sophical point  of  view  it  is  of  little  consequence 
whether  one  is  "determined"  by  God  or  by  an 
"economic  situation."  And  that  is  just  where 
the  modern  empiricist,  who  bases  all  knowledge 
upon  experience,  quarrels  with  the  high  aprio- 
rism  of  this  position.  The  sense  of  creative  ac- 
tivity in  the  economic  situation  is  as  truly  an 
experience  as  that  we  are  acted  upon  by  our 
environment.  To  say  that  creative  freedom  is 
an  illusion  is  as  dogmatic  as  the  assertion  that 
every  man  is  absolutely  free.  Neither  position 
explains  our  fundamental  experience,  which  is 
of  action  and  reaction  upon  our  world. 

We  may,  then,  at  once  concede  that  the  forms 
of  our  morality  are  largely  the  result  of  the 
world  acting  upon  us,  but  it  is  equally  true  that 
the  world  that  acts  upon  us  is  largely  the  re- 
sult of  our  own  creative  activity.  In  an  abso- 


212  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

lute  logical  determinism  there  is  no  more  room 
for  real  indignation  and  moral  reaction  than  in 
extreme  Calvinism.  To  call  the  fuss  and  fury 
that  is  produced  by  situations  we  have  no  con- 
trol over  moral  excitement  is  an  abuse  of  terms. 
If  we  are  the  helpless  creatures  of  economic 
fatalism,  and  could  really  come  to  believe  this, 
we  would  stop  being  indignant,  and  would  never 
again  experience  the  sense  of  moral  outrage. 
Yet  these  experiences  are  normal  and  funda- 
mental. No  one  is  more  deeply  stirred  at  times 
than  Karl  Marx  himself.  And  just  as  the  high- 
est Calvinist  makes  his  appeal  to  men  as  if  they 
were  free,  so  Karl  Marx  scolds  and  pleads  in 
spite  of  economic  determinism.  The  difficulty 
in  both  Marxian  philosophy,  rather  as  de- 
veloped by  such  as  Loria  than  by  himself,  and 
High  Calvinism  is  that  they  alike  take  over 
concepts  built  up  out  of  our  experience  for  one 
purpose  and  apply  them  to  situations  to  which 
they  have  really  no  reference. 

The  so-called  "law  of  causal ty"  has  its  basis 
in  its  extreme  usefulness  for  certain  great  hu- 
man purposes.  We  can  have  no  science,  no 
systematic  ethics,  no  philosophy,  unless  we  ex- 
clude magic  and  consider  the  world  as  con- 
ditioned. And  the  study  of  conditions  has  no 
bounds.  We  always  want  to  know  "why"  any- 
thing acts  as  it  does.  Long  eons  of  experience 
have  taught  us,  or  should  have  taught  us,  to 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  213 

demand  at  every  step  the  fullest  possible  ex- 
planation of  the  conditions  under  which  all 
activity  may  be  observed.  But  the  end  is 
mastery.  To  know  the  conditions  under  which 
electricity  gives  heat  or  light  or  power  enables 
us  to  master  electricity  and  make  it  our  servant 
to  cook  our  food  or  light  our  houses  or  move 
our  trolley  cars.  And  this  sense  of  possible 
mastery  is  as  primitive  as  final,  as  useful  and 
indeed  as  essential  as  the  law  of  cause  and 
effect.  To  call  one  science  and  omit  the  other  is 
alike  unscientific  and  in  point  of  actual  expe- 
rience impossible.  Whether  we  will  or  no,  we 
live  in  a  world  of  cause  and  effect,  and  of  moral 
success  and  failure.  When,  therefore,  it  is 
properly  interpreted  the  Marxian  doctrine  of 
economic  determinism  has  nothing  dreadful 
about  it.  It  is  part  of  the  working  apparatus 
of  all  scientific  inquiry.  We  must  study  moral- 
ity as  conditioned.  This  no  more  ends  in 
fatalism  than  all  acceptance  of  the  law  of 
causalty  ends  in  fatalism. 

To  the  man  who  refuses  to  study  the  laws  of 
health  we  say,  "You  are  a  fool,  and  perhaps  a 
wicked  fool."  And  the  reason  we  say  that  is 
because  we  demand  as  a  goal  mastery  over  our 
bodies,  and  believe  that  we  can  act  with  or 
against  the  fundamental  order  of  the  universe. 
To  know  the  conditions  and  act  with  the  laws 
of  the  universe  is  not  only  wise  but  may  be 


214  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

virtuous ;  to  act  against  them  is  foolish  and  may 
be  wicked.  If  anyone  says  this  is  illusion,  then 
it  is  equally  open  to  the  Hindu  to  say  all  is  il- 
lusion. "We  certainly  cannot  demonstrate  it, 
because  we  cannot  get  outside  ourselves  and 
our  experience  to  look  at  the  question  as  a 
bystander.1 

The  third  element  of  the  Marxian  world  of 
thought  is  the  class-conscious  struggle.  This 
is  the  outcome  of  Marx's  theory  that  the  pos- 
session of  the  tools  is  the  dominant  influence  in 
shaping  life,  and  also  of  his  philosophy,  with 
its  abounding  hopefulness,  and  his  conviction 
that  man  is  ultimately  to  master  his  environ- 
ment. Austin  Lewis  quotes  Marx  as  saying, 
''Backward  I  am  in  agreement  with  the  ma- 
terialists, forward  not,"  and  again  as  writing 
a  short  critical  note  on  Feuerbach,  "The  ma- 
terialistic doctrine  that  men  are  products  of 
conditions  and  education,  different  men,  there- 
fore, products  of  other  conditions  and  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  education,  forgets  that  circum- 
stances may  be  altered  by  man  and  that  the 
educator  has  himself  to  be  educated.  It  neces- 
sarily happens,  therefore,  that  society  is 
divided  into  two  parts,  of  which  one  is 


1  Two  books  will  throw  great  additional  light  on  this  discussion  : 
Fred.  Engels's  Feuerbach,  "  The  Roots  of  the  Socialist  Philosophy  " 
(Eng.  tr.,  1908),  and  Professor  Seligman's  "  The  Economic  Interpre- 
tation of  History '.'.  (1902). 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  215 

elevated  above  society  (Robert  Owen,  for  exam- 
ple)."1 

As  a  consequence  of  this  faith  Marx  taught 
that  the  working  class  would  at  length  rise  up 
and  take  final  possession  of  the  productive 
tools  of  society  in  the  interest  of  all,  and  that 
the  class  struggle  would  thus  come  to  an  end, 
because  society  would  no  longer  be  divided  into 
those  who  work  and  barely  eat,  and  those  who 
eat  and  barely  do  any  work.  He  thought,  there- 
fore, that  the  main  duty  of  the  day  was  to  lead 
the  working  class  into  self-consciousness.  He 
hoped  to  make  the  struggle  for  the  tool  a  class- 
conscious  struggle,  whose  victory  would  be  in 
the  real  interests  of  all.  For  Marx  taught  that 
parasitic  classes  are  bound  to  decay  and  be- 
come degenerate. 

Whatever  the  critic  may  think  of  Karl  Marx's 
use  of  history,  he  is  to  be  justly  judged  at  this 
point.  He  did  not  advocate  violence.  No  one 
can  read  his  singularly  instructive  letters  to 
the  New  York  Tribune,  when  he  was  correspond- 
ing editor  of  that  paper,  upon  the  political  situ- 
ation in  Europe  without  seeing  how  hopelessly 
insensate  he  regarded  such  violence  as,  for 
instance,  that  of  the  later  Paris  Commune. 
Snpigijgrp  naTi  r»mne  onlv.  according  to  Marx, 

^ *™^ ^"^^""^         ^ ^^W*"*^"1^  ^^^H^'^^M«MMMWMM*MMM«MMMMV«VOTHW*MI>*lMM**"M 

when  the  great  majority  of  mankind  are  ear- 
nestly and  intelligently  in  favor  of  it.  Education 

JMarx  on  Feuerbach.     Notes  jotted  down  in  Brussels,  1845. 


216  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

and  organization  are  therefore  his  watchwords. 
And  he  implored  his  followers  to  keep  away 
from  the  violence  of  anarchy  of  action 
(Bakouine),  and  from  all  unnecessary  chal- 
lenge of  the  strength  of  the  ruling  class. 

The  point  at  issue,  therefore,  is  of  fact.  Is 
there  a  class  struggle?  Are  certain  groups 
of  men  so  animated  by  a  sense  of  solidarity  in 
the  possession  of  the  industrial  opportunity 
that  they  stand  instinctively  for  their  com- 
mon interests  ? 

The  answer  each  man  must  give  out  of  his 
own  experience.  There  is  certainly  a  sense  in 
which  a  man  should  be  " class"  or  ''group" 
conscious.  A  minister  should  respect  his  pro- 
fession and  have  a  high  regard  for  its  best  in- 
terests. A  lawyer  should  care  for  the  interests 
of  his  group.  Organized  workingmen  are 
moralized  and  strengthened  by  their  affection 
for  their  group.  They  should  work  and  think 
for  the  best  interests  of  their  group.  The  ques- 
tion, however,  goes  deeper  than  that.  The 
struggle  of  each  group  has  its  goal.  How  far 
should  that  goal  be  the  possession  of  the  pro- 
ductive tools  of  society? 

The  answer  of  Karl  Marx  is  only  moral  when 
the  goal  is  the  highest  interest  of  all  classes.  Of 
course,  this  is  what  he  believed  and  taught.  His 
class-conscious  struggle  had  as  its  goal  what  he 
believed,  rightly  or  wrongly,  to  be  the  highest 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  217 

and  largest  life  of  all  classes — indeed,  the  abo- 
lition of  all  classes.  Some  may  not  agree  with 
him  that  this  is  possible,  or  that  the  communal 
ownership  of  the  industrial  opportunity  would 
do  more  than  put  the  power  in  the  hands  of 
some  other  organization,  but  at  least  Karl 
Marx's  hope  was  a  moral  one,  and  he  must  be 
acquitted  of  all  intention  to  incite  to  class  hate 
or  class  selfishness. 

Not  so  easily  can  one  acquit  popular  teachers 
of  class-conscious  socialism,  who  ignorantly 
proclaim  a  doctrine  of  class  hate  as  if  that  were 
Marxian.  Particularly  in  Italy  and  France 
grave  and  dangerous  misinterpretations  of 
Marx  at  this  point  have  led  to  political  and  eco- 
nomic confusion.  It  is,  indeed,  a  question  of 
how  far  Marx  is  himself  responsible  for  these 
misinterpretations. 

Undoubtedly  we  all  are  under  the  influence 
of  our  surroundings.  A  young  fellow  educated 
at  Harvard,  Yale,  or  Princeton  seldom  fails  to 
bear  away  the  "group  color."  He  may  have 
ever  so  strong  a  personality.  He  may  even 
strive  against  all  onesidedness  and  provincial 
narrowness.  At  crucial  points  the  "group 
color"  will  appear,  and  he  decides  his  conduct 
in  accordance  with  the  group  tradition. 

So  the  possessing  class's  privileges  do  give 
consciously,  subconsciously,  and  unconsciously 
color  to  the  thoughts  of  those  who  move  in  its 


218  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

atmosphere.  This  is  rather  a  group  color  than 
a  conscious  attitude,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  fact 
that  an  English  lackey  is  usually  far  more  snob- 
bish than  the  master.  The  clerk  in  Wall  Street 
thinks  far  more  in  the  narrow  prejudices  of  the 
street  than  even  the  intelligent  and  perhaps 
traveled  employer.  The  ministry  is  exposed 
to  the  danger  of  narrowly  and  unintelligently 
reflecting  the  prejudices  of  the  class  to  which 
it  happens  to  minister. 

The  question,  then,  arises  as  to  how  far  any 
man  can  break  away  from  his  group  prejudices. 
At  this  point  only  facts  are  really  important. 
The  claim  of  the  moral  man  with  faith  in  the 
moral  impulse  is  that  the  emancipation  is  pos- 
sible, that  even  acknowledging  the  possible 
thraldom  of  the  atmosphere  of  class  privilege, 
this  bondage  can  be  and  every  day  is  broken  by 
men  of  good  will,  and  Karl  Marx's  own  illustra- 
tion of  Eobert  Owen  can  be  many  times  multi- 
plied. 

Moreover,  the  question  is  stated  too  simply  to 
cover  all  the  complications  of  the  actual  facts. 
The  "class"  or  "group"  consciousness  that  is 
fundamental  in  life's  struggle  is  made  up  of 
many  factors,  and  the  maintenance  of  posses- 
sion is  only  one  of  these.  The  psychology  of  a 
group  consciousness  is  as  complicated  or  even 
more  complicated  than  the  individual  conscious- 
ness. The  consciousness  of  the  possession  of 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  219 

special  privilege  is,  it  is  true,  an  organizing 
factor  of  often  supreme  importance,  but  not 
always,  and  the  "class  struggle"  can  never 
probably  be  made  the  simple  division  between 
the  "haves"  and  the  "have  nots"  which  the 
early  Marxian  teaching  would  seem  to  require. 
In  the  political  and  economic  struggle  for 
power  the  issues  are  never  really  made  as  plain 
as  dogmatic  socialism  demands.  An  illustra- 
tion is  seen  in  the  very  attitude  of  the  Demo- 
cratic-Socialist party  of  Germany  toward  na- 
tional defense,  and  when  issues  which  are  not 
immediately  vital  to  the  party  are  in  debate. 
It  is  seen  in  the  relative  independence  of  the 
southern  German  states,  where  in  spite  of  all 
protestations  of  loyalty  to  the  party  platform 
it  is  conceded  that  the  Social  Democracy  is  go- 
ing to  go  its  own  way  in  party  tactics,  and  that 
under  the  strain  of  a  sectional  feeling  too  strong 
to  resist. 

Whatever  one  may,  then,  think  of  the  class- 
conscious  struggle,  it  is  only  useful  in  the  broad- 
est sense,  and  must  be  carefully  guarded 
against  directly  immoral  implications. 

This  class-conscious  struggle  as  taught  by 
Marx  is  still  farther  modified  by  the  changed 
place  in  the  party  program  brought  about  by  a 
change  in  the  estimate  of  the  actual  forces  at 
work.  Marx  and  Engels  confidently  looked  for 
the  speedy  consummation  of  capitalist  concen- 


220  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tration  and  its  inevitable  bankruptcy.  They,  in 
fact,  feared  its  downfall  before  the  proletariat 
would  be  ripe  for  taking  over  of  the  social  ma- 
chinery. Marx  expected  the  increasing  misery 
of  the  working  class  to  accompany  the  concen- 
tration of  capital.  He  made  many  brilliant 
predictions  that  have  been  fulfilled  to  the  letter, 
but  this  is  not  one  of  them.  In  all  the  great 
capitalistic  countries,  England,  Germany, 
France,  the  United  States,  etc.,  whatever  may 
be  said  about  relative  poverty,  the  absolute  con- 
dition of  the  working  class  has  improved.  This 
may  be  temporary,  due  to  labor  organization, 
old-age  pensions,  the  fear  of  socialism,  etc.,  but 
the  fact  remains  that  not  only  is  the  working 
class  better  off  absolutely,  but  that  the  progress 
of  socialism  does  not  depend  upon  the  increas- 
ing misery  of  the  working  class.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  seems  almost  as  if  a  certain  level  of 
misery  left  men  no  time  for  organized  discon- 
tent, as  in  the  case  of  the  poverty-stricken 
drunken  proletariat  of  the  London  slums. 

The  one  watchword  of  the  early  program  was 
to  organize  for  the  class  struggle  and  all  that 
hid  that  goal;  all  measures  of  mere  ameliora- 
tion that  softened  the  struggle  were  evil.  The 
socialist  took  no  interest  in  many  things  that 
must  be  regarded  as  vital.  It  is  of  the  greatest 
consequence  that  parents,  whether  socialist  or 
not,  guard  the  educational  interests  of  the 


MARXIAN  SOCIALISM  221 

family.  It  is  of  the  greatest  moment  that  all 
citizens,  whether  socialist  or  not,  watch  over  the 
health  interests  of  the  boys  and  girls  growing 
up  about  us.  From  the  socialist  standpoint  it 
is  of  vast  importance  that  its  soldiers  in  the 
"class-conscious  struggle"  have  sound  bodies 
and  as  well  trained  minds  as  possible.  The 
program  of  socialism  has  therefore  widened, 
and  must  widen  still  more.  There  must  be  a  re- 
interpretation  of  the  teachings  of  the  class- 
conscious  struggle  to  take  in  the  constantly 
enlarging  experience. 

In  this  sketch  of  Marxian  socialism  it  must 
surely  become  plain  that  the  intelligent  Chris- 
tian layman  must  carefully  and  intelligently 
consider  the  claims  set  up  by  so  large,  so  active, 
and  so  earnest  a  set  of  his  fellow  citizens. 


CHAPTER  XX 

STATE  SOCIALISM 

IN  1878  Bismarck  began  a  policy  that  had  a 
complicated  motive  behind  it.  He  desired  the 
strengthening  of  the  monarchy,  the  undermin- 
ing of  the  Social  Democracy,  and  the  welfare  of 
the  proletariat.  Undoubtedly  he  rightly  felt 
that  the  misery  and  discontent  of  a  large  ele- 
ment of  the  industrial  population  was  a  great 
weakness  to  Germany.  The  empire  had  at  that 
time  no  colonies  to  speak  of,  and  emigration 
was  robbing  her  of  her  young  and  energetic 
laborers.  Bismarck  started  about  his  task  even 
before  1878  in  his  advocacy  of  state  control  of 
the  railways  of  Germany.  The  confusion  of 
railway  management  in  Germany  had  been 
great.  There  were  state  railways,  railways 
owned  by  private  companies,  railways  owned 
by  companies  but  financed  by  the  various  states, 
and  when  the  empire  was  founded  and  Hanover 
and  the  French  provinces  were  annexed,  the 
empire  came  into  possession  of  railways.  It  is 
said  that  in  1873  there  were  over  ninety  railway 
administrations  in  the  country,  with  over  a 
thousand  different  railway  rates.  Prussia,  then 
under  Bismarck's  guidance,  offered  her  rail- 

222 


STATE  SOCIALISM  223 

ways  to  the  empire.  The  offer  was  not  ac- 
cepted, and  in  1876  Prussia  began  to  purchase 
the  railways,  and  to  organize  them  as  state 
railways.  The  confusion  and  corruption  in  the 
management  of  the  roads  made  the  expropria- 
tion of  the  railways  popular.  Only  the  radical 
Manchester  theorists  really  opposed  it,  although 
had  Social  Democracy  been  as  strong  then  as 
now  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  would  not  have 
made  itself  felt  in  opposition  also.  Its  opposi- 
tion at  that  time  counted  for  little.  Bismarck 
had,  no  doubt,  also  military  interests  in  view, 
and  the  empire  as  such  was  given  special  powers 
of  supervision  and  unification.  The  various 
states,  Bavaria,  Baden-Baden,  Wiirtemberg, 
Saxony,  etc.,  followed  Prussia's  lead,  and  the 
complete  expropriation  of  the  railways  (save 
small  narrow-gauge  experimental  lines)  may 
now  be  called  practically  complete. 

Marxian  socialists  repudiate  state  socialism 
utterly :  first,  because  it  is  the  paternalism  of  a 
class-ruled  state;  secondly,  because  the  state 
ownership  is  used  for  making  profits;  and, 
thirdly,  because  the  development  of  a  great 
bureaucracy  threatens  the  development  of  eco- 
nomic democracy.  Bismarck  spoke  often  of  ' '  a 
monarchical  paternally  governed  state. ' '  State 
socialism  has  as  its  ideal  the  government  of 
persons.  Its  interest  is  the  guardianship  of 
human  beings.  Marxian  socialism  would  deal 


224  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

only  with  things,  and  leave  persons  to  govern 
themselves. 

On  this  account  Marxian  socialism,  unlike 
Fabian  socialism,  takes  little  interest  in  the 
state  socialism  of  Germany.1  The  post  office, 
the  railways,  the  telegraph  and  telephone  are 
only  a  few  of  the  things  a  paternal  state  has 
taken  over.  Bismarck  was  seemingly  prepared 
to  go  much  farther  than  the  states  of  Germany 
have  gone,  but  he  was  an  avowed  opportunist 
and  only  went  as  far  as  he  had  occasion  to  go. 
He  regarded  it  as  the  duty  of  the  paternal  state 
to  find  work  for  the  working  man  willing  to 
work,  even  if  large  public  works  became  neces- 
sary. He  was  supported  in  his  views  by  the 
Association  for  Social  Politics,2  which  urged 
protection  and  also  the  care  for  the  welfare  of 
the  workingman.  Men  like  Adolph  Wagner  and 
Smoller  gave  him  support  in  his  proposals  from 
the  side  of  political  economy,  for  which  science 
he,  however,  now  and  then  expressed  supreme 
contempt. 

In  1879  Germany  definitely  abandoned  free 
trade  and  entered  upon  a  course  of  paternal 
state  socialism.  The  radicals,  most  of  the  Na- 
tional Liberals,  Bismarck's  old  party,  and  the 
Social  Democrats  opposed  the  change,  but  in 


>A  sympathetic  and  Intelligent  statement  of  state  socialism  is 
made  by  W.  H.  Dawson's  "  Bismarck  and  State  Socialism  '•  (1891). 
•Verein  fur  Socialpolitik. 


STATE  SOCIALISM  225 

vain.  They  did,  however,  prevent  Bismarck 
pushing  through  his  tobacco  and  brandy  monop- 
olies, and  delayed  state  insurance.  From  the 
conversion  of  Bismarck  to  state  regulation  of 
industry  to  the  present  day  a  whole  series  of 
elaborate  laws  have  been  passed.  Some  of  them 
are  provincial,  others  are  imperial,  and  com- 
pulsory insurance,  accident  insurance,  employ- 
ment offices,  have  been  taken  over  by  the  state. 
The  various  municipal  governments  have  un- 
dertaken the  manufacture  and  distribution  of 
gas,  electricity  and  water.  Slaughtering  is  done 
in  municipal  houses,  and  state  regulation  of 
mining  and  industry  at  times  amounts  almost  to 
ownership. 

The  old-age  pensions  (1889)  are  only  the  cul- 
mination of  a  series  of  laws  that  began  in  1883 
with  insurance  against  sickness,  and  were  un- 
dertaken avowedly  to  head  off  socialistic  agi- 
tation. On  March  8,  1881,  the  insurance  act  of 
that  date  was  introduced  among  other  things 
with  the  words,  "The  apprehension  that  a 
socialistic  element  might  be  introduced  into 
legislation  if  this  end  were  followed  should  not 
check  us.  So  far  as  that  may  be  the  case  it 
will  not  be  an  innovation,  but  the  further  de- 
velopment of  the  modern  state  idea,  the  result 
of  Christian  ethics,  according  to  which  the  state 
should  discharge,  besides  the  defensive  duty 
of  protecting  existing  rights,  the  positive  duty 


226  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

of  promoting  the  welfare  of  all  its  members, 
and  especially  those  who  are  weak  and  in  need 
of  help,  by  means  of  judicious  institutions  and 
the  employment  of  those  resources  of  the  com- 
munity which  are  at  its  disposal."1 

The  progress  of  this  type  of  paternal  state 
socialism  has  been  very  rapid  in  Germany,  and 
as  yet  commands  the  assent  of  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  population.  Even  the  theoretical 
objections  of  the  Social  Democracy  do  not  make 
its  opposition  very  strenuous.  The  military 
training  of  the  whole  population,  the  semi- 
feudal  arrangements  on  the  great  estates,  the 
traditions  of  the  old  aristocratic  guild  systems 
that  survived  the  destruction  of  the  guilds  in 
Germany  (from  1810  on),  together  with  monar- 
chical traditions,  work  together  for  the  exten- 
sion of  a  system  that  is  not  democratic,  but 
which  does  hedge  about  the  weak  and  hamper 
the  power  for  oppression  of  the  strong. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  not  socialism  in  the 
revolutionary  sense,  and  its  nondemocratic 
character  makes  it  impossible  to  argue  from 
its  successes  and  failures  to  the  course  any 
democratic  socialism  would  be  likely  to  take. 
Nor  is  it  easy  to  say  how  even  the  measures  of 
state  socialism  and  municipal  socialism  that  are 
being  introduced  into  England  will  work  there, 
as  conclusions  drawn  from  German  conditions 

» Quoted  by  Dawson,  "  Bismarck  and  State  Socialism,"  p.  111. 


STATE  SOCIALISM  227 

will  not  hold  good  for  a  country  with  an  entirely 
different  social  and  industrial  training. 

On  the  whole,  impartial  critics  seem  to  agree 
that  state  production  and  distribution  in  Ger- 
many compares  unfavorably  with  private  enter- 
prise at  its  best,  but  favorably  with  the  average 
private  enterprise.  There  is  more  personal 
initiative  through  eagerness  to  "make  a 
career"  than  might  be  feared  from  the  bureau- 
cratic character  of  its  machinery.  The  state 
can  command  a  better  class  of  man  for  less 
salary  than  private  enterprise,  and  can  reward 
cheaply  special  services  with  titles,  orders,  etc. 
The  atmosphere  of  state  production  is  often 
arbitrary  and  autocratic,  but  municipal  enter- 
prises are  more  directly  in  contact  with  the 
citizenship,  and  are  more  subject  to  praise  and 
blame  and  more  sensitive  to  it.  A  high  standard 
of  personal  honesty  and  integrity  has  always 
been  maintained,  and  shows  no  signs  at  present 
of  being  lowered.  Considering  the  relative 
poverty  of  Germany,  the  railways  have  made 
steadier  improvement  than  in  England,  France, 
or  the  United  States,  and  life  is  safer  on  the 
railway  than  in  any  other  country.  At  the 
same  time,  grave  blunders  have  been  made,  and 
the  element  of  profit  has  been  often  too  much 
considered  in  the  tariff  changes.  Public  opinion 
has  proved  a  more  effective  check  upon  abuses 
than  might  have  been  expected  in  a  country 


228  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

where  press  laws  are  exceedingly  severe,  and 
where  all  expressions  of  opinion  must  be  made 
with  a  certain  sense  of  possible  responsibility 
for  them  before  a  court. 

Evidently  the  expansion  of  the  function  of 
the  empire,  the  state,  and  the  municipality 
suits  the  genius  of  the  German  people,  and  is 
bound  to  go  forward.  Democracy  has  not  kept 
pace  with  the  socialistic  development,  perhaps 
partly  because  the  Social  Democracy  has  stood 
off  to  one  side,  and  so  reactionary  forces  seem 
to  the  critic  on  the  outside  to  be  rather  gaining 
than  losing  in  strength.  In  recent  rather  fierce 
controversies  with  regard  to  the  progress  of 
democracy  the  evidence  seems  rather  against 
its  growth  outside  the  Social  Democracy,  and 
even  there  centralization,  the  power  of  com- 
mittees, the  leadership  of  one  man  reflect  the 
reactionary  spirit  of  Prussian  hegemony. 

The  influence  of  German  state  socialism, 
which  is  so  much  a  child  of  her  military  train- 
ing, has  made  itself  strongly  felt  in  countries 
without  her  preparation.  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion that  England  is  likely  now  to  follow  Ger- 
many along  these  lines.  The  old-age  pension 
bill  is  perhaps  to  be  followed  by  experiments  in 
a  state  socialistic  tariff  expressly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  raising  the  funds  that  will  be  needed. 
Protection  is  essentially  of  the  nature  of  pa- 
ternal state  socialism.  Municipal  socialism  has 


STATE  SOCIALISM  229 

already  made  rapid  progress  in  England,  and 
on  a  more  democratic  basis  than  in  Germany. 
The  protective  tariff  of  the  United  States  is  in 
the  same  way  paternalistic,  and  shows  no  signs 
of  more  than  slight  modification. 

In  France,  Switzerland,  and  Italy  the  social- 
ism is  less  paternal,  and  yet  here  also  the  state 
has  in  no  one  of  these  countries  perfected  its 
political  democratic  machinery.  And  in  all 
these  countries  the  paternal  socialism  seeks  to 
regulate  persons  and  their  relations  to  each 
other  and  the  state  rather  than  to  simply  under- 
take production  and  distribution.  This  is  what 
marks  off  the  one  type  of  socialism  as  over 
against  democratic  revolutionary  socialism. 

State  socialism  is  content  with  substantially 
the  existing  state  and  wishes  only  to  extend  its 
powers  and  perfect  its  machinery.  It  quarrels 
with  the  individualist,  on  the  one  hand,  in  re- 
gard to  the  function  of  the  state,  making  it 
broader  in  its  scope  than  the  individualist 
teaches,  and,  on  the  other,  with  the  Marxian  so- 
cialist in  that  it  refuses  to  believe  in  radical 
transformation,  or  in  the  expropriation  of  the 
tool-owning  class  save  in  specific  cases. 

To  the  English  Fabian  or  to  the  American 
socialist  opportunist  the  contempt  and  suspicion 
of  dogmatic  socialism  for  state  socialism  in  all 
its  forms  seems  at  first  sight  both  narrow  and 
academic.  And  yet  there  is  a  wide  difference 


230  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

in  ideal,  and  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful 
whether  the  Marxian  ideal  could  ever  be  really 
reached  via  state  socialism,  as  Fabianism  is 
apt  to  believe.  So  that  from  his  standpoint  the 
Social  Democrat  of  Germany  is  probably  right 
in  his  suspicion  and  dislike  of  state  socialism. 

In  Germany  the  seizure  of  the  mines  and 
natural  resources,  and  a  very  wholesale  taking 
possession  of  the  forests  and  land,  will  not  un- 
likely be  the  next  steps  in  state  socialism.  That 
the  process  is  bound  to  go  forward  is  well-nigh 
certain.  Not  only  is  public  opinion  with  the 
state,  but  the  rivalry  between  the  states  and 
the  competition  between  municipalities  act  in 
the  same  direction,  as  a  constant  pressure  for- 
ward to  larger  ownership.  And  as  the  official 
class  grows  the  pressure  increases.  As  over 
against  the  organized  force  of  the  state,  and 
especially  the  highly  organized  state  of  Ger- 
many, even  the  strongest  combination  of  capital 
seems  weak,  and  its  powers  of  resistance  are 
both  variable  and  unequal.  Happily  the  mu- 
nicipalities are  relatively  democratic  in  their 
organization,  and  enjoy  a  measure  of  autonomy 
to  which  American  cities  are,  alas!  strangers. 
Nevertheless  state  socialism  is  still  on  trial,  and 
no  matter  how  Marxian  socialism  may  disavow 
it,  socialism  as  a  whole  will  be  justly  or  unjustly 
judged  by  the  measure  of  its  failure  or  success. 

The  reader  of  American  and  English  news- 


STATE  SOCIALISM  231 

papers  can  hardly  get  from  them  any  clear  con- 
ception of  the  struggle  going  on  in  France, 
which  is  at  bottom  largely  a  struggle  between 
Marxian  and  state  socialism.  That  political 
confusions  arise  from  the  effort  of  the  trium- 
phant ruling  class  to  cut  the  ground  from  under 
the  feet  of  the  impatient  proletariat  by 
measures  of  state  socialism,  which  the  pro- 
letariat refuse  in  the  name  of  socialism,  sug- 
gests unreasonableness  and  lack  of  political 
logic;  whereas  this  struggle  is  the  result  of 
the  rather  clear  workings  of  the  French  mind, 
which  demands  the  application  of  theory  in  a 
far  more  rigid  manner  than  the  Anglo-Saxon 
understanding  does.  And  one  reason  why  the 
political  atmosphere  in  France  is  so  stormy  and 
dark  is  because  the  state  socialism  on  the  basis 
of  which  the  middle  class  seeks  to  reorganize 
France 's  life  has  no  such  military  system  and  no 
such  caste  feeling  to  work  with  as  has  the  rul- 
ing class  in  Germany.  Hence  paternal  socialism 
is  weak,  and  again  and  again,  as  just  recently, 
suffers  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  organized 
proletariat.  In  Germany  paternal  social- 
ism has  behind  it  a  tradition  still  exceedingly 
powerful,  a  military  system  which  is  the  pride 
of  even  the  most  peace-loving  middle-class 
heart,  an  exceedingly  efficient  bureaucracy,  and 
the  tradition  of  Bismarck's  great  name.  There 
if  anywhere  it  has  a  chance  to  work  out  its 


232  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

destiny.  In  France  the  aristocratic  tradition 
is  a  burden  to  any  cause  it  takes  up,  so  signal 
have  been  its  many  historic  failures.  The  mili- 
tary system  lacks  the  cohesion  of  Germany.  The 
official  class  is  to  some  extent  at  least  corrupted 
by  Paris  Boulevard  life,  or  at  least  is  suspected 
of  a  measure  of  corruption,  and  the  paternal 
state  socialism  has  no  great  name  with  which 
to  conjure.  To  the  bystander  Borne 's  attitude 
toward  the  paternal  state  socialism  of  France 
seems  a  shocking  blunder.  An  alliance  with  it 
would  have  had  no  real  dangers  for  authority 
as  Borne  understands  that  word.  The  separa- 
tion of  Church  and  State  has  been  a  tremendous 
blow  to  the  forces  within  the  state  upon  which 
alone  any  system  of  paternal  state  socialism 
must  rest.  That  from  Eome's  point  of  view  a 
most  important  advantage  has  been  thrown 
away  may  rejoice  our  Protestant  hearts,  but  it 
does  not  inspire  us  with  admiration  for  the 
political  wisdom  of  Borne.  What  is  the  good  of 
infallibility  if  one  does  not  Tiave  common  senseT 


CHAPTER  XXI 
TYPES  or  CONTINENTAL  SOCIALISM 

THE  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  always  been 
repelled  by  the  pronouncedly  material  and  anti- 
religious  attitude  of  revolutionary  socialism. 
In  her  literature  and  teaching  she  identified 
socialism  and  liberalism,  and  regarded  them  as 
alike  deadly  foes.  "With  equally  sure  instinct 
Marxian  socialism  views  Roman  Catholicism 
with  even  more  than  the  general  suspicion  with 
which  she  looks  out  upon  the  religious  world. 
To  understand  this  attitude  one  must  realize 
the  inner  character  of  Koman  Catholicism.  The 
system  rests  upon  authority.  According  to 
the  consistent  teaching  of  Eoman  Catholicism 
God  has  given  to  an  historic  sacramental  insti- 
tution, founded  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  power  of 
the  keys,  and  authority  to  teach,  to  discipline, 
and  to  govern.  This  Church  consists  of  priests, 
officers,  and  those  under  vows,  and  then  the 
governed  body  of  laymen.  As  over  against  the 
organized  hierarchy  there  are  no  adult  years 
for  the  lay  members,  they  are  always  "chil- 
dren of  Mother  Church."  The  Church  in  her 
organized  capacity  is  the  overlord  of  life  and 
conscience.  The  hierarchy  was  built  up  under 

233 


234  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  same  conditions  that  molded  the  great 
feudal  system,  and  her  ideas  and  conceptions 
of  life  are,  with  some  important  modifications, 
mainly  feudal.  With  democratic  socialism, 
therefore,  Roman  Catholicism  could  have  no 
sympathy.  It  is  often  said  that  Roman  Catholi- 
cism stands  for  the  rights  of  property,1  but  this 
is  only  in  part  true.  The  whole  feudal  system 
is  in  the  last  analysis  based  upon  the  holding 
of  the  industrial  opportunity  (land)  in  trust. 
The  overlord  apportioned  it  to  those  under  him, 
and  they  again  to  lesser  holders,  who  in  turn 
become  responsible  for  their  retainers,  etc. 

As  land  was  the  tool  of  production,  or  rather 
the  one  opportunity  for  production,  feudalism 
does  not  stand  primarily  for  private  owner- 
ship of  the  productive  opportunity,  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  all  that  socialism  contends 
against.  In  this  respect  also  the  ethics  of 
Roman  Catholicism  are  based  upon  the  feudal 
conception.  Ketteler  says,  "Catholic  theo- 
logians are  agreed  in  teaching  that  the  right  of 
property  cannot  be  made  to  cover  cases  of  ex- 
treme necessity."  The  whole  monastery  sys- 
tem was  one  long  protest  against  private 
property  in  the  productive  opportunity.  The 
real  value  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  system  was  not  so  much 

i  Professor  Nitti,  for  instance,  p.  125  of  "  Catholic  Socialism ". 
(Eng.  tr.,  1908). 


CONTINENTAL  SOCIALISM  235 

the  fact  that  it  guaranteed  individual  freedom 
to  the  Papacy.  Conventions  could  do  that  even 
more  effectively.  The  real  significance  was 
that  the  Pope  claimed  feudal  overlordship  over 
all  authority  and  the  right  to  dispose  of  even 
nations  and  princes.  Temporal  dominion  is 
symbolic  of  this  claim. 

Hence  Leo  XIII  in  his  famous  encyclical  of 
May,  1891,  against  socialism  was  not  really  in- 
fallibly correct,  for  he  confuses  communism  with 
socialism,  and  misstates  the  essential  princi- 
ple of  socialism.  At  the  same  time,  he  asserted 
plainly  the  feudal  conception  of  society  as  con- 
stituted in  permanent  classes  which  it  is 
dangerous  to  destroy,  and  in  his  practical  pro- 
posals joins  with  Bismarck  in  demanding  in 
practice  state  socialism,  that  is,  the  control  by 
the  state,  of  course  under  the  direction  of  the 
hierarchy,  of  all  persons,  and  their  care  and 
training.  This  is  in  itself  a  claim  for  the  over- 
lordship  in  the  interests  of  the  community  of 
the  industrial  opportunity  and  the  productive 
tool,  for  private  possession  subject  to  overlord- 
ship  is  very  different  from  the  claims  of  modern 
capitalism. 

Hence  there  have  sprung  up  in  Austria  and 
elsewhere  Catholic  socialist  parties,  whose  plat- 
form is  substantially  a  reorganization  of  society 
in  a  feudal  socialism.  They  have  been  all  too 
often  furiously  anti-Semitic,  and  the  program 


236  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

has  varied  much  according  to  various  degrees 
of  culture  and  information.  Marxian  socialism 
has,  of  course,  no  sympathy  either  with  the  pro- 
nounced feudal  character  of  their  ideals,  nor 
yet  with  the  churchly  pretensions  of  the  move- 
ment. Hence  there  exists  a  rather  bitter  war 
between  the  Marxian  democratic  socialists  and 
the  feudal  Roman  Catholic  socialists.  This  has 
not  been  decreased  in  virulence  by  the  fact  that 
Catholic  socialism  has  been  so  fiercely  anti- 
Semitic,  whereas  the  numbers  of  Jewish  citizens 
in  the  Social  Democracy  has  always  been  rather 
remarkable;  and  one  cannot  forget  that  Karl 
Marx  was  a  Jew. 

Particularly  in  Austria  the  landed  feudal- 
ism and  the  Roman  Catholic  proletariat  have 
united  in  attacking  the  new  aristocracy  of 
finance,  which  is  largely  Jewish.  Indeed,  it  is 
not  unworthy  of  notice  that  the  leading  spirit 
in  early  Christian  socialism  in  Austria  was  the 
Protestant  Rudolf  Meyer,  whose  book  on  the 
"Emancipation  of  the  Fourth  Estate"  is  still 
influential,  and  that  Marx  and  Engels  are  con- 
stantly the  sources  of  inspiration  for  a  violent 
propaganda  against  Jews. 

What  is  characteristic  of  this  Austrian  Chris- 
tian socialism  is  that  the  attempt  is  always  to 
regulate  production  and  distribution  by  regula- 
tion of  persons,  whereas  Marxian  socialism 
would  regulate  persons  by  the  ownership  of  the 


CONTINENTAL  SOCIALISM  237 

means  of  production.  This  distinction  is 
grounded  in  the  feudal  principle  underlying 
Catholic  socialism  and  the  materialism  that  per- 
vades Marxian  socialism.  It  is  not  accidental. 
Catholic  socialism  was  organized  in  Austria  by 
such  "  proletariats "  as  Count  von  Falkenhayn, 
Count  Zallinger,  Count  von  Vogelsang,  Count 
Bloeme,  Baron  Dipauli,  Count  Belcredi,  Count 
Taffe,  and  Prince  von  Lichtenstein !  And  as  a 
consequence  its  program  guards  against  all 
interference  with  landlordism,  and  attacks  only 
modern  industry  and  capital.  It  would  main- 
tain classes,  but  "urge  them  to  humanity  and 
Christian  regard  for  each  other."  And  it  re- 
gards it  as  the  duty  of  the  state  to  guard  at 
every  step  the  activity  of  the  citizen. 

The  progress  of  Roman  Catholic  socialism 
along  these  lines  has  been  steady  in  many 
countries.1  But  even  where  it  has  attained 
power  its  results  have  been  exceedingly  dis- 
appointing. Nor  is  it  difficult  from  a  modern 
Protestant  point  of  view  to  see  the  reason  for 
its  relative  ineffectiveness.  Feudalism  is  no 
solution  of  the  great  industrial  situation  with  its 
new  demands  and  untried  situations.  The 
voluminous  writings  of  the  Catholic  socialists 
reflect  nothing  quite  so  plainly  as  the  utter  lack 
of  touch  with  the  modern  world  of  thought.  The 


1  For  a  sympathetic  review  see  Professor  Nitti's  "  Catholic  Social- 
ism "  (Eng.  tr.,  1908),  pp.  100-357. 


238  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Vatican  still  cherishes  the  hope  that  the  world 
will  turn  back  to  Thomas  Aquinas.  But  if  it 
did  it  would  find  there  nothing  of  the  critical 
philosophy,  nothing  of  modern  science,  nothing 
about  modern  industry  or  modern  democracy. 
Catholic  socialism  is  trying  to  answer  the  ques- 
tions raised  by  these  novelties  in  human  life  by 
resort  to  modes  of  thought  and  feeling  to  which 
the  modern  world  is  a  stranger.  Men  begin  to 
insist  even  within  the  pale  of  the  Eoman  com- 
munion that  they  are  adults  and  not  children, 
and  must  use  their  own  reasons  as  they  under- 
stand them. 

When,  therefore,  the  questions  at  issue  are 
economic  and  social,  the  restlessness  under  au- 
thority is  even  more  pronounced  than  when  the 
matter  relates  to  theological  abstractions ;  more 
particularly  as  the  Vatican  has  not  been  very 
happy  in  its  own  political  and  economic  policy. 
Even  intelligent  and  loyal  Eoman  Catholics  ad- 
mit the  grave  political  blundering  in  Italy  and 
France.  Of  course,  in  this  field  the  Pope  is  not 
infallible,  and  any  loyal  Roman  Catholic  may, 
even  while  confessing  obedience,  admit  the  mis- 
takes and  question  the  wisdom  of  the  Vatican. 
The  anti-Semitism  of  the  movement  is  alone 
enough  to  condemn  it  in  the  eyes  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  most  thoughtful,  and  seems  to  add  a 
moral  to  an  economic  mistake. 

For  this  reason  the  Christian  socialism  of 


CONTINENTAL  SOCIALISM  239 

Roman  Catholicism  seems  to  have  little  hope 
of  ever  really  capturing  the  Vatican.  It  is  even 
now  more  or  less  under  suspicion,  and  cannot 
naturally  thrive  very  markedly  in  this  anom- 
alous position.  Should  it  not  receive  the  sup- 
port of  Borne  many  faithful  adherents  to 
Catholic  socialism  are  likely  to  be  lost  to  the 
Church,  for  in  spite  of  many  protestations  there 
are  undoubtedly  a  fair  number  to  whom,  now, 
a  social  reorganization  of  society  seems  even 
more  important  than  the  maintenance  of  the 
unity  of  the  Church.  "Workingmen  in  consider- 
able numbers  in  Belgium,  Germany,  Austria, 
and  perhaps  to  a  less  degree  in  Italy,  France, 
and  England,  have  been  kept  loyal  to  Rome  and 
the  Church  by  the  leaders  of  Catholic  socialism 
and  the  utterances  of  men  like  Cardinal  Man- 
ning. At  the  same  time,  a  betrayal  of  their 
hopes,  or  even  lukewarmness  in  the  pursuit  of 
their  interest,  will  unquestionably  mean  that 
many  of  these  workingmen  will  go  over  to  class- 
conscious  and  revolutionary  socialism. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  which  is  almost  un- 
thinkable, Eome  should  go  over  to  feudal 
socialism  of  the  Austrian  type,  she  would 
frighten  and  drive  off  many  of  her  most  recent 
converts  from  the  commercial  and  industrial 
classes.  What  is  most  likely  to  happen  is  a 
continuance  of  the  halting  and  temporizing 
support  of  Catholic  socialism  where  the  follow- 


240  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ing  is  strong,  as  in  Austria,  and  a  considerable 
discouragement  of  it  in  strongly  commercial 
and  industrial  communities.  This  policy  is, 
however,  easier  in  divided  Protestantism  than 
in  a  united  Catholicism.  What  is  the  good  of  au- 
thority if  it  cannot  give  clear  answers  in  mat- 
ters of  the  most  vital  and  immediate  im- 
portance f 

Protestantism  exalts  individual  judgment 
and  responsibility.  No  church,  bishop,  or  pope 
can  do  more  than  humbly  advise  with  the  indi- 
vidual Protestant  conscience.  In  the  last 
analysis  every  important  question  must  be 
settled  by  the  individual  in  the  presence  of  his 
God.  The  Protestant  Church  would  do  well 
to  refrain  from  attempting  authoritative 
answers  to  any  question.  It  has  no  infallible 
authority,  and  can  only  reason  in  the  light  of 
the  best  available  information.  Not  even  in 
the  matter  of  theology  and  doctrine  can  its 
decisions  be  more  than  tentative  interpreta- 
tions of  Scripture  and  life,  and  in  the  field  of 
political  programs  and  economic  knowledge  it 
is  as  weak  as  any  other  human  organization. 

We  are,  therefore,  as  Protestants  far  less 
hampered  as  we  seek  to  scan  the  economic 
horizon.  And  when  Catholic  socialists  pre- 
sent to  us  their  clumsy  adaptations  of  Marx's 
economic  interpretation  of  history,  their 
emasculated  class  policy,  and  their  complicated 


CONTINENTAL  SOCIALISM  241 

and  impossible  regulation  of  human  life  on 
the  basis  of  outworn  feudalism,  we  must  be 
very  strange  Protestants  if  these  things  seem 
in  the  least  attractive  to  us.  Catholic  social- 
ists are  fond  of  identifying  Protestantism 
with  what  they  call  "bourgeoise  individual- 
ism," and  say  that  it  is  for  that  reason  that 
they  make  so  little  headway  in  our  ranks.  But 
apart  from  the  individualism,  which  is  to  a 
large  degree  the  strength  of  Protestantism, 
and  which  it  would  be  a  fatal  mistake  to  sur- 
render for  any  feudalism,  if  we  are  going  to  be 
socialists,  then  it  will  surely  be  a  socialism 
more  intellectually  respectable  than  that  pre- 
sented to  us  by  Eudolf  Meyer  or  the  columns 
of  the  "Vaterland."1 

Within  Marxian  socialism  itself  is  arising 
another  type  of  thought  that  has  as  yet  hardly 
found  full  expression.  It  may  be  called  op- 
portunist socialism,  and  yet  it  has  no  real  re- 
lationship to  Fabian  socialism.  It  is  the  child 
not  so  much  of  the  practical  expediency  which 
has  governed  Fabianism  as  of  the  philosophic 
thought  that  has  so  powerfully  influenced  con- 
tinental socialism. 

Sometimes  this  movement  is  called  "re- 
vision" and  sometimes  it  is  linked  with  the 
name  of  Bernstein.  Yet  neither  the  name 
"revisionist"  nor  the  works  of  Bernstein 

1  The  Austrian  organ  of  Catholic  socialism. 


242  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

fully  express  the  movement.  Bernstein  and 
Kampffmeyer  are,  indeed,  its  chief  exponents, 
but  philosophic  empiricism  and  the  doctrine  of 
relativity  in  knowledge  are  the  real  parents  of 
the  new  thought.  According  to  these  men 
Marxian  socialism  needs  revision  all  along  the 
line.  Marx 's  political  economy  can  be  shown  to 
be  in  need  of  restatement,  his  policy  of  a 
class-conscious  preparation  for  a  revolution  on 
the  fall  of  capitalism  must  be  changed  to 
class-conscious  preparation  for  a  gradual 
superseding  of  the  capitalist  class.  Moreover, 
the  economic  interpretation  of  history  must 
more  than  ever  emphasize  the  voluntary 
theory.  The  revisionists  remain,  for  the  most 
part,  in  the  party,  but  in  each  trial  of  strength, 
as  in  1901  and  1903,  they  have  been  beaten.1 
Their  program  includes  more  active  partici- 
pation in  the  actual  political  doings  of  the 
bourgeoise  government.  Hence  the  action  of 
the  South  German  Social  Democrats  in  voting 
for  the  financial  budget  was  regarded  as  a 
victory  for  the  revisionists,  because  up  to  this 
Social  Democracy  was  always  and  everywhere 
in  consistent  opposition.  Again  the  party  re- 
buked this  move,  but  it  did  it  so  gently  that  the 
South  German  party  will  probably  go  on  doing 
what  it  deems  best  in  local  affairs. 


*  The  last  meeting  of  the  party  seems  to  indicate  a  weakening  of 
the  opposition  to  revision  and  its  leaders. 


CONTINENTAL  SOCIALISM  243 

These  revisionists  were  regarded  at  first  as 
" intellectuals"  and  "theorists,"  but  they  have 
been  largely  reinforced  by  organized  labor, 
which  is  most  anxious  for  immediate  results. 
Moreover,  municipal  democratic  socialism  in 
France  has  been  largely  politically  opportunist, 
and  has  accomplished  remarkable  things,  so 
that  here  again  the  revisionist  type  of  social- 
ism has  had  most  welcome  support.  How  far 
the  modifications  demanded  by  the  more  ad- 
vanced "revisionists"  can  be  made  without  a 
split  in  the  party  an  outsider  cannot  predict. 
There  is  in  a  dogmatic  attitude  a  certain  kind 
of  strength  that  conscientious  intellectual  analy- 
sis cannot  claim  to  possess.  To  the  English 
mind  some  of  the  discussions  seem  extremely 
academic  in  which  the  revisionists  seem  to  de- 
light. Whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  the  practical 
opportunist  program  appeals  with  especial 
force  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  political  instinct.  Mr. 
Victor  Berger  is  understood  to  stand  for  the 
revisionist  policy  in  the  United  States,  but 
whether  as  the  outcome  of  philosophic  reflexion 
or  because  it  appeals  to  him  as  a  rational  po- 
litical program  the  writer  does  not  know.  The 
underlying  philosophy  is,  however,  a  radical 
empiricism  very  far  removed  from  the  Hege- 
lian and  post-Hegelian  thinking.  To  accept  the 
teachings  of  Bernstein  would,  in  the  writer's 
judgment,  involve  even  more  radical  changes 


244  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

in  the  Marxian  world  of  thought  than  even  the 
revisionists  foresee.  It  will  throw  open  the 
gates  to  forces  which  once  admitted  into  the 
well-organized  dogmatic  structure  may  do  for 
it  what  modernism  threatens  to  do  to  Roman 
Catholicism.  It  is  already  coloring  the  views 
of  many  who  do  not  profess  its  cardinal  princi- 
ples, and  what  the  outcome  may  be  no  one  can 
now  accurately  foresee. 

The  views  of  the  * '  syndicalists "  are  even 
less  well  organized.  They  rely  upon  trade- 
union  organization,  and  rather  scoff  at  political 
action.  They  look  to  such  overwhelming  organ- 
ization of  the  labor  union  movement  and  such 
close  connection  between  the  trades  unions  that 
when  the  time  comes  by  one  revolutionary 
stroke  labor  may  claim  its  own.  The  move- 
ment has  its  main  fighting  strength  in  Italy  and 
in  France. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  KINGDOM  DKEAM  AND  SOCIAL  AMELIORATION 

JESUS  said  a  startling  thing  to  the  man  who 
wished  to  go  to  the  funeral  rites  of  his  father : 
"Let  the  dead  bury  the  dead;  follow  thou  me!" 
So  imperative  did  he  regard  the  call  to  the 
kingdom  proclamation  that  not  even  the  natural 
desire  to  show  respect  to  the  parent  was  to  in- 
terfere. It  was  to  be  left  to  those  to  whom  this 
was  of  primary  importance.  So  also  many 
radical  reformers  feel  about  the  existing  social 
order.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  spirit- 
ual and  ethical  forces  are  often  engaged  with 
the  dead  in  burying  the  dead.  The  ardent 
socialist  would  have  us  do  nothing  but  pro- 
claim socialism,  and  the  earnest  single-taxer 
feels  a  measure  of  impatience  with  anything 
proposed  short  of  land  nationalization  by  taxa- 
tion. These  reformers  feel  that  all  the  evils 
against  which  various  reforms  are  aimed  would 
fall  like  the  walls  of  Jericho  if  only  we  would 
march  about  the  citadel  with  our  trumpets  and 
illumination.  With  a  good  deal  of  force  they 
point  out  that  the  sentimental  appeals  of 
"charity"  and  various  expressions  of  human 
kindliness  meet  with  a  response  on  the  part  of 

245 


246  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  socially  unawakened,  who  can  attend  to 
these  matters,  whereas  the  weightier  matters  of 
social  justice  and  reorganization  of  the  basis 
of  our  economic  life  can  claim  but  few,  who 
should  not,  therefore,  waste  their  time  and 
energy  in  ''burying  the  dead,"  however  need- 
ful this  may  be,  but  that  they  should  leave  that 
to  others. 

This  point  of  view  has  also  its  representa- 
tives in  the  Church.  To  preach  the  gospel  has 
seemed  in  all  ages  of  impending  crisis  the  main 
thing.  Paul  and  Luther  as  well  as  Saint 
Francis  looked  for  so  quick  and  dramatic  a  re- 
appearance of  Jesus  that  to  ''evangelize"  the 
world  was  the  one  thing  needful.  And  we  must 
never  forget  that  the  proclamation  of  the  king- 
dom is  the  one  thing  Jesus  sent  us  to  do,  and 
that  one  reason  the  world  is  not  really  "evan- 
gelized" is  that  we  left  the  work  of  the  kingdom 
to  follow  imperial  shadows  and  settle  all 
manner  of  philosophical  and  theological  ques- 
tions, most  of  which  we  settled  wrong.  A  very 
small  object  held  closely  to  the  eye  shuts  out 
the  whole  horizon,  and  the  vision  of  the  king- 
dom can  be  blotted  out  by  holding  too  much 
in  the  foreground  some  quite  desirable  reform. 

Some  who  look  for  the  coming  in  judgment 
of  Jesus  seem  to  hail  with  joy  all  signs  of  in- 
creasing evil  on  earth  as  heralds  of  his  coming. 
Premillenarians  are  often  in  this  group.  To 


SOCIAL  AMELIORATION  247 

them  and  to  many  revolutionary  socialists  the 
world  must  wax  worse  and  worse  before  it 
becomes  better.  As  we  have  seen,  Karl  Marx 
looked  out  upon  the  increasing  misery  of  the 
working  class  as  a  sure  sign  of  the  coming 
social  reorganization.  The  sayings  of  Jesus, 
recorded  in  Mark  13  and  Matthew  24,  have  been 
interpreted  as  predicting  an  increasing  dis- 
organization of  life,  and  wars  and  rumors  of 
wars  are  even  now  regarded  by  some  as  actual 
signs  of  hope.  If,  however,  this  is  what  Jesus 
meant,  then  surely  he  was  mistaken,  for  the 
world  has  -not  become  increasingly  disor- 
ganized. But  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that 
this  is  just  what  he  meant.  Karl  Marx  has  so 
far  not  been  correct  concerning  the  increasing 
misery  of  the  working  class.  Both  relatively 
and  absolutely,  as  we  have  said,  it  is  at  least 
probable  that  they  are  better  off  than  ever  be- 
fore in  history. 

The  underlying  truth  of  this  catastrophic 
philosophy  is  that  all  life  is  process  and  crisis. 
The  bud  slowly  grows  and  expands,  and  sud- 
denly a  jar  or  a  breath  of  air  and  it  bursts  out 
into  the  fullness  of  its  beauty.  Or  a  house  de- 
cays and  cracks,  until  some  day  for  reasons  no 
one  knows  it  suddenly  collapses  and  becomes  a 
heap  of  ruins.  Process  and  crisis  thus  follow 
one  another  in  nature  and  history,  and  it  is 
often  impossible  to  separate  very  sharply  be- 


248  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tween  the  two.  Of  the  two  the  catastrophe  is 
so  much  more  dramatic  and  spectacular  that  it 
often  leads  us  to  forget  the  slow  quiet  process, 
without  which  there  would  have  been  no  sudden 
change.  Moreover,  the  sudden  crisis  is  some- 
times an  evil  which  more  careful  processional 
activity  would  have  avoided.  Thus  Jesus  fore- 
saw the  ruin  of  Jerusalem  and  the  destruction 
of  the  temple,  but  he  mourned  it.  It  was  an 
unnecessary  catastrophe.  The  beautiful  city 
could  have  saved  herself.  The  temple  might 
still  have  stood  and  marked  the  continuity  of 
history  had  the  Jewish  leaders  but  understood 
the  trend  of  spiritual  history  and  listened  to  the 
new  prophetic  voices  God  is  ever  awakening  to 
new  songs  of  deliverance.  But  Jerusalem 
would  not,  and  crisis  became  inevitable. 

The  parables  of  the  kingdom  in  Matthew  13 
reflect  the  ideal  of  Jesus.  Here  is  slow  proces- 
sional growth.  It  is  hypercriticism  to  trans- 
form them,  as  a  German  critic  tries  to  do,  into 
catastrophic  teaching.  The  whole  modern 
teaching  of  evolution,  although  it  cannot  get 
quite  rid  of  the  movement  of  final  separation 
from  the  parent  form,  looks  out  upon  a  world 
of  definite  process  by  almost  infinitely  small 
changes  from  generation  to  generation.  Eevo- 
lution  has  always  been  a  marked  element  in 
history,  and  it  may  perhaps  always  remain  a 
factor.  At  the  same  time,  we  are  really  more 


SOCIAL  AMELIORATION  249 

interested  in  evolution  and  the  evolutionary 
process.  This  seems  to  us  the  normal  thing. 
Even  in  the  spiritual  history  of  the  individual, 
although  there  may  be  dramatic  suddenness, 
as  in  Paul's  case,  when  we  are  gripped  and 
changed,  yet  as  far  as  we  know  the  more  normal 
experience  was  that  of  Jesus,  who  grew  up 
"going  about  his  Father's  business,"  and  al- 
though having  moral  crises,  as  on  the  mount  of 
temptation  or  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane, 
yet  never  having  a  sense  of  unforgiven  sin. 
For  Jesus  grew  up  in  the  consciousness  of  per- 
fect and  absolute  union  with  the  Father.  We 
are  not  sinless,  and  sin  involves  us  in  the  dark- 
ness and  the  shadows  of  the  unforgiven  life, 
but  the  ideal  is  that  of  Jesus,  and  in  the  king- 
dom we  may  surely  hope  that  children  will  grow 
up  in  Christian  families  fully  assured  from  the 
moment  of  dawning  intelligence  of  their  mem- 
bership in  God's  household  and  of  perfect  son- 
ship  in  the  forgiven  life. 

For  this  reason  we  are  also  interested  in  the 
orderly  development  of  human  life.  Violence 
and  crisis  disorganize  and  dislocate.  At  times 
this  may  be  bitterly  needful,  but  it  has  grave 
disadvantages.  The  French  Eevolution  was 
necessary  for  all  Europe,  but  it  was  fearfully 
costly  for  poor  France.  The  surgeon's  knife 
may  be  essential,  but  it  is  the  last  and  most  dis- 
agreeable resort.  When,  therefore,  revolution 


250  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

is  proclaimed,  and  when  despondent  premil- 
lenarians  look  out  eagerly  for  war  and  disaster, 
they  are  surely  mistaking  the  normal  course  of 
history,  and  fixing  their  eyes  upon  the  oc- 
casional, the  abnormal,  and  the  dramatic. 

If  we  are  told  that  we  have  nothing  to  do 
with  our  social  order  as  it  is,  because  it  is  not 
the  kingdom,  another  series  of  objections  are 
raised.  Here,  again,  both  socialism  and  extreme 
religious  sects  illustrate  this  point.  In  the 
older  history  of  Presbyterianism  honest  and 
sincere  men  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  political  machinery  of  both  Scotland  and 
the  United  States  because  of  failure  of  one 
kind  or  another  to  recognize  what  these  men 
regarded  as  essential  in  religion.  Because  the 
name  of  God  is  not  in  the  Constitution  some 
good  men  will  not  even  now  vote.  They  refuse 
to  recognize  what  is  for  them  a  Godless  social 
and  political  order.  So  also  the  extreme  Marx- 
ian socialists  in  Germany  have  in  the  past  been 
in  steady  opposition  to  granting  all  taxes  for 
the  maintenance  of  what  they  regard  as  bour- 
geoise  oppression.  The  remedy  all  these  ex- 
tremists proclaim  is,  in  fact,  flight  out  of  the 
social  order,  or  at  least  a  steady  refusal  to  co- 
operate in  any  way  with  it.  The  reason  they 
give  is  that  any  help  or  comfort  only  prolongs 
the  existence  of  what  they  condemn.  The  state 
that  is  not  Christian  or  not  socialistic  is  inner- 


SOCIAL  AMELIORATION  251 

ently  evil,  and  therefore  from  this  standpoint 
all  amelioration  is  unwise  and  bad,  for  it  only 
prolongs  the  evil. 

The  practical  attitude  of  the  pulpit  has  some- 
times been  on  the  same  side.  We  are  told  "not 
to  meddle  with  politics,"  and  the  reform  ac- 
tivities of  the  pulpit  are  often  looked  at  askance, 
because  they  are  thought  of  as  identifying 
the  pulpit  too  closely  with  what  is  more 
or  less  definitely  regarded  as  inherently  bad. 
Would  Jesus  or  Paul  have  wished  to  maintain, 
we  are  asked,  the  imperialism  of  Nero?  And 
of  course  this  does  raise  serious  questions.  Can 
we  who  live  in  an  ideal  social  order  of  love, 
fellowship,  cooperation,  and  service  really  aid 
and  help  to  maintain  an  order  of  strife,  compe- 
tition, business  struggle,  and  effort  for  mastery 
over  men?  Of  course,  for  those  who  accept  the 
existing  order  as  actually  expressive  of  the 
mind  of  God,  these  questions  do  not  arise.  If 
anyone  honestly  believes,  as  men  honestly  do 
believe,  that  our  existent  competitive  com- 
mercial industrialism,  with  profits  as  incentive 
to  action  and  control  of  the  productive  machin- 
ery as  its  goal,  is  the  last  word  in  our  social 
evolution,  then  all  such  thinkers  have  to  do  is 
to  rid  the  social  order  of  its  abuses.  Such  men 
should  be  hard  at  work  cleansing  the  social 
order  of  intemperance,  impurity,  graft,  dis- 
honor, injustice,  ignorance,  and  violence,  so  as 


252  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

to  commend  to  us  the  social  order  they  believe 
in  and  show  us  that  it  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Can  we  leave  this  work  to  such  men,  if  we 
are  persuaded  that  something  more  radical 
must  be  aimed  at?  This  is  a  weighty  question. 
It  must  be  remembered,  in  the  first  place,  that 
no  social  order  is  actually  entirely  pure  in  form. 
In  all  social  orders  of  the  past  there  have  been 
the  seeds  from  which  sprang  new  social  forms. 
Long  before  nomadism  abandoned  flocks  and 
herds  men  began  to  plant  crops,  as  did  even 
hunting  Indians,  that  could  be  quickly  gath- 
ered before  moving  away.  The  shepherd  of 
Tekoa  who  appears  at  Beth-el  was  probably  not 
only  a  nomad  shepherd,  but  a  herald  of  a 
coming  commercialism  as  he  exchanged  his 
fleeces  and  wools.  The  old  commercialism  had 
in  it  the  seeds  of  landed  feudalism,  and  feudal- 
ism had  in  it  the  elements  of  that  nationalism 
which  was  to  break  feudalism  and  give  us  our 
limited  republics.  This  belongs  to  the  very 
evolutionary  process.  Nothing  seems  to  break 
the  continuity  of  history,  and  the  sensible  man 
must  realize  that  he  cannot  do  without  history 
to  tell  him  anything  he  may  know  about  the 
present  and  the  future.  If  we  are  to  have  a  new 
social  order  its  processes,  its  thought,  its  ethics, 
and  its  life  must  grow  out  of  the  older  orders 
which  it  is  to  supplant.  Whatever  may  be  the 
function  of  revolution,  it  can  never  be  more 


SOCIAL  AMELIORATION  253 

than  incidental.  We  must  deal  with  the  evo- 
lutionary process  so  far  as  it  is  God's  process, 
and  our  faith  is  that  it  is  God's  process. 

We  are,  in  the  second  place,  in  life  and  of 
it.  If  the  existing  social  order  is  wrong,  we  are 
wrong  with  it,  and  we  have  no  desire  to  escape 
the  burden;  we  do  not  wish,  like  Buddhists,  to 
get  out  alone.  Paul  was  willing  to  be  separated 
even  from  Christ  for  his  brethren's  sake  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh.  We  are  of  the  world  order, 
and  are  here  to  save  the  world  order.  With 
all  its  sins  and  shortcomings  it  is  dear  to  the 
heart  of  God,  and  he  gave  his  only  beloved  Son 
to  save  it.  We  can  do  no  less.  And  if  he  came 
into  it  to  save  it,  we  will  not  save  it  by  getting 
out  of  it.  Jesus  prayed  not  that  we  be  taken 
out  of  the  world,  but  that  we  be  kept  in  it. 
But  if  we  are  in  it,  then  it  is  as  healing  and  help- 
ful elements.  We  must  do  red-cross  work  even 
if  the  whole  battle  is  to  the  last  degree  abhorrent 
to  our  souls.  Amelioration  is,  then,  our  service 
as  we  look  forward  to  the  time  when  ameliora- 
tion will  become  unnecessary.  Of  course,  no 
real  Christian  believes  that  in  the  kingdom  of 
God  we  shall  still  be  struggling  with  the  white 
plague  and  the  dark  red-light  curse.  In  the 
kingdom  that  is  to  come  there  will  be  no  unlit 
tenements,  or  mines  worked  by  little  children 
and  half -naked  women.  In  the  kingdom  where 
Jesus  reigns  in  men's  hearts  profits  couldn't 


254  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tempt  men  to  debauch  their  fellows  by  gambling 
holes  and  drinking  dives.  But  these  things  are 
with  us  now,  and  the  red-cross  work  must  be 
done  for  this  generation.  Many  cannot  wait 
for  the  kingdom  of  the  distant  future,  for  they 
live  now  in  a  world  they  have  made  and  we  have 
made  into  a  weary,  restless  hell.  And  we  are 
there  and  can  touch  their  lips  with  drops  of 
living  water,  and  can  do  something  to  cool  the 
flame ;  and  if  in  doing  it  we  become  less  radical 
and  less  thoroughgoing  it  will  be  strange  in- 
deed. 

Furthermore,  if  a  new  social  order  is  to  come 
the  social  man  must  be  ready  for  it.  Only  in 
the  work  of  amelioration  can  we  get  the  train- 
ing we  all  need  for  the  social  age.  We  need  it 
every  one  of  us.  We  are  all  bound  hand  and 
foot  in  the  particular  place  our  little  life  as- 
signs to  us.  It  may  be  organized  labor  or  the 
ministerial  profession,  it  may  be  law  or  busi- 
ness, but  whatever  it  may  be,  it  has  its  world 
in  which  we  live.  The  best  outlet  by  which  to 
see  the  world  in  which  other  people  live  is  the 
work  of  amelioration,  the  social  patching  up  of 
the  existent  order.  If  it  is  bad  we  cannot  really 
keep  it  alive,  but  we  can  learn  its  ways,  and 
draw  from  its  experiences,  and  prepare  intel- 
ligently for  what  is  to  take  its  place. 

For  this  is  of  the  utmost  importance, 
namely,  that  we  carry  over  the  values  of  the 


SOCIAL  AMELIORATION  255 

old  into  the  new.  No  social  order  has  been 
without  its  own  ethical  triumphs.  We  have 
suffered  with  the  ages,  but  we  shall  also  reap 
with  the  ages,  and  the  patience,  faith,  hope, 
and  constancy  born  of  our  long  struggle  are 
values  of  priceless  worth.  Only  in  serving  our 
own  day  and  generation,  not  alone  by  procla- 
mation, but  by  works  of  healing  and  mercy,  can 
we  really  discover  the  eternal  values.  Only  in 
the  actual  battle  with  sin  and  suffering,  with 
disease  and  death,  can  we  know  the  joy  and 
fellowship  of  work  for  humanity  and  the 
kingdom. 

The  Christian  life  is  ministry.  It  is  a  shame 
that  in  Protestantism  this  name  has  been 
monopolized  by  a  class.  There  are  only  two 
classes  in  the  adult  population — those  that  are 
Christian  ministers  and  those  that  are  of  the 
world.  It  is  only  a  difference  of  function  that 
separates  the  teaching  minister  from  the  heal- 
ing minister  or  the  justice-defending  minister 
or  the  minister  to  the  community  in  barter  and 
commerce.  The  business  man  who  is  in  business 
for  the  money  that  is  in  it  is  not  Christian ;  the 
business  man  who  is  in  business  as  a  minister 
of  service  is  Christian.  And  our  ministry  is  to 
body,  soul,  and  spirit,  to  the  whole  of  man, 
and  to  all  human  relations.  Jesus  went  about 
doing  good.  The  very  proclamation  of  the 
coming  kingdom  has  force  as  we  are  found 


256  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

binding  men's  wounds  and  healing  men's  hurts. 
Some  of  us  are  deprived  of  many  chances  we 
eagerly  covet  in  concrete  social  work  to  actually 
do  the  will  of  the  Father  as  well  as  proclaim  it, 
but  as  far  as  in  us  lies  we  are  to  be  up  and  at 
it,  trying  to  make  this  old  world  new,  and  to 
prepare  it  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  for 
which  we  pray. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  SOCIAL  PROPOSALS  OF 
AMELIORATION 

IN  the  midst  of  the  myriad  reform  proposals 
by  which  we  are  now  happily  surrounded  it  is 
important  to  waste  as  little  strength  as  possible 
on  impossible  schemes,  and  to  pick  out  from 
among  those  that  appeal  to  our  sympathies  the 
ones  that  are  the  most  fundamental.  The  in- 
telligent citizen  interested  in  reform  should 
try  in  the  very  beginning  to  formulate,  however 
rudely,  his  ideal.  What  will  really  give  us  the 
kingdom?  Do  we  really  believe  in  democracy, 
or  paternalism,  or  aristocracy,  or  plutocracy? 
Which  form  of  regulation  will  most  quickly  give 
us  an  ideal  society?  Having  constructed  our 
ideal,  then  all  reform  proposals  must  be 
weighed,  again  tentatively,  with  this  ideal  in 
mind.  With  some  well-meaning  men  we  shall 
find  ourselves  unable  cordially  to  cooperate 
because,  perhaps,  they  believe  in  "the  super- 
man," and  we  trust  in  aristocracy  or  democ- 
racy. They  are  in  sympathy  with  measures 
that  advance  an  ideal  which  we  cannot  really 
desire.  There  is  no  good  in  intelligent  men 
working  at  cross  purposes  in  the  same  organ- 
ization; and  the  habit  of  getting  well-known 

257 


258  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

names  together  to  support  enterprises  which 
just  so  far  as  they  were  successful  would  really 
undo  all  these  well-known  names  stand  for  is 
one  of  the  pathetically  amusing  evidences  of 
the  social  ignorance  of  even  well-educated  men. 
Many  social  proposals  are  like  the  March 
Hare 's  watch  repairs  in  "Alice  in  Wonderland. ' ' 
He  oiled  his  watch  with  butter,  and  it  did  not  go, 
although  it  was  the  best  butter.  Constructive 
social  work  needs  a  fairly  clear  ideal  of  what  is 
ultimately  wanted,  and  our  energies  will  largely 
go  to  those  things  that  promise  most  for  our 
ideal. 

Young  reformers,  and  particularly  young 
clergymen,  are  apt  to  give  themselves  to  all  and 
every  earnest  movement  without  really  asking 
whither  it  leads  and  what  is  the  animating 
spirit  of  the  movement.  Naturally  one  desires 
to  be  counted  upon  to  fulfill  all  righteousness; 
at  the  same  time,  strength  and  means  are 
limited,  and  one  should  often  ask  the  question, 
'  *  What  is  best  worth  while ! "  Of  course,  loca- 
tion and  calling  determine  in  large  measure  the 
direction  of  our  social  activities.  There  are 
immediate  interests  that  claim  our  attention, 
because  if  we  neglect  them  no  one  else  will  take 
care  of  them.  A  church  may  have  a  number 
of  its  members  interested  in  a  "  village  improve- 
ment society,"  and  its  own  grounds  be  the  most 
unsightly  on  the  street.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  minor 


AMELIORATION  MEASURES  CLASSIFIED      259 

matter,  but  if  the  church  does  not  make  a  social 
sacrifice  at  this  point  it  is  not  earning  its  exemp- 
tion from  taxation.  It  is  one  of  its  minor  but 
immediate  interests.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to 
seek  some  rational  classification  of  various 
proposed  reforms,  and  ask,  "Where  can  my 
gifts,  capacity,  and  position  tell  most  for  funda- 
mental righteousness  1 ' ' 

No  matter  how  cautious  the  reformer  is,  no 
matter  how  convinced  that  all  radical  change 
would  be  a  mistake,  he  can  hardly  look  out  on 
life  and  not  see  that  it  needs  reform  all  along 
the  line.  And  as  he  goes  out  into  life  he  finds 
some  association  or  other  trying  to  reform  al- 
most everything  in  sight.  He  may  distrust 
"panaceas"  as  much  as  he  pleases,  what  is 
offered  for  his  acceptance  are  hundreds  of  pro- 
posals affecting  almost  every  aspect  of  our 
social  and  political  life.  The  need  of  reform, 
that  is,  transformation  into  God's  image  of  the 
daily  routine,  becomes  evident  to  the  most 
thoughtless.  The  most  dangerous  and  incau- 
tious thing  is  to  stand  still  and  do  nothing. 
Many  men  interested  in  the  existing  order 
praise  constantly  the  steady  inertia  of  some  of 
their  fellow  men,  as  though  inertia  were  an  in- 
fallible sign  of  good  judgment  and  of  sober 
common  sense.  By  simply  doing  nothing  the 
French  king  brought  on  the  Eevolution.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  the  conservation  of  existing 


260  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

values  simply  to  stand  still  is  the  most  danger- 
ous course  one  can  adopt.  We  must  act.  How 
shall  we  act? 

There  are  certain  leading  points  of  view  al- 
ready made  plain  in  the  criticism  of  great 
political  programs.  The  Christian  man  should 
ask  about  any  reform,  How  far  is  it  really 
democratic  in  the  Christian  meaning  of  that 
term,  that  is,  how  far  will  it  promote  that  Chris- 
tian brotherhood  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  all 
our  social  dreaming?  And  he  must  also  ask 
how  far  it  promotes  that  moral  autonomy  which 
is  God's  purpose  for  human  life.  Reforms  that 
are  thrust  by  force  on  unwilling  men  or  com- 
munities seldom  accomplish  aught  but  moral 
confusion.  The  only  morality  that  lasts  has  its 
springs  in  human  purpose.  A  social  state 
would  not  help  men  who  do  not  want  and  are 
unwilling  to  have  a  social  state.  ^Largejmim- 
bers  of  well-meaning  efforts  have  resulted  in 
\  dreary  failure  because  they  were  born  in  hope- 
less ignorance  of  the  real  workings  of  the 
human  mind.  Paternal  schemes  for  benefiting 
workingmen  without  consulting  them;  aristo- 
cratic interference  with  the  morals  of  "the 
inferior  classes"  by  kindly  groups  of  superior 
persons;  loftily  condescending  efforts  to  "ele- 
vate" the  homes  of  the  "honest  toilers,"  have 
met  with  cold  reception  or  actual  rebuff,  and 
then  we  hear  wails  about  the  ingratitude  of 


AMELIORATION  MEASURES  CLASSIFIED     261 

the  working  class  and  the  impossibility  of 
"helping"  them. 

Again,  there  is  a  constant  pressure  to  force 
the  morality  of  one  set  and  station  in  life  upon 
another.  That  is,  no  doubt,  what  Jesus  meant 
when  he  said  of  the  Pharisees,  "They  bind 
heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  but 
they  themselves  will  not  touch  them  with  one 
of  their  little  fingers."  It  was  easy  for  the 
Pharisees  in  Jerusalem  to  wash  before  eating, 
to  prepare  food  for  Sabbath,  to  guard  against 
contamination  from  the  unclean,  but  how  about 
underfed  fishermen  in  Galilee  I  They  could  not 
always  eat  with  clean  hands,  nor  could  they  al- 
ways prepare  their  Sunday  dinners  before- 
hand. Men  do  not  eat  raw  grain  rubbed  in  their 
hands  if  they  have  other  diet.  It  was  a  hungry 
peasant  band  that  offended  prosperous  religi- 
osity by  preparing  food  on  the  Sabbath  as  did 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  as  they  walked  through 
the  fields. 

All  our  reform  movements  must,  to  be  effect- 
ive, work  with  the  streams  and  currents  of 
human  thought.  These  are  never  wholly 
wrong,  though  seldom  more  than  partly  true. 
At  the  same  time,  they  are  the  currents  of  ulti- 
mate progress.  Jesus  never  became  a  zealot, 
but  the  dream  of  a  new  society,  the  discontent 
with  the  formal  ecclesiasticism,  belonged  to  the 
whole  stream  of  human  thought,  and  Jesus  took 


262  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

it,  spiritualized  it,  deepened  it,  and  gave  it  new 
and  broader  meaning.  It  is  reforms  that  look 
forward  toward  the  better  dream  that  must 
have  our  attention  and  energy.  According  to 
our  social  theory  we  will  therefore  judge  them. 
If  our  emphasis  is  that  of  the  individual  we  can 
best  cooperate  with  reformers  who  aim  at  the 
maintenance  of  such  individualism  as  we  have 
and  its  extension,  and  our  activity  will  receive 
color  from  our  ideal.  If  our  ideal  is  rather  of 
the  socialist  or  collectivist  type,  again  our  social 
activity  will  receive  its  character  from  our  so- 
cialist ideal. 

To  conveniently  classify  various  reform  pro- 
posals it  is  perhaps  well  to  begin  with  the  indi- 
vidual, and  thence  proceed  to  the  home  group, 
with  its  questions  of  education  and  discipline 
for  life,  and  then  may  follow  the  reforms  of  the 
workshop  and  the  daily  breadwinning  life.  Our 
modern  life  is  dominated  by  the  city,  but  the 
civic  reforms  only  point  the  way  to  reforms 
that  affect  town  and  village,  where  in  larger 
groups  men  and  women  meet  and  live.  This 
naturally  suggests  the  needed  changes  in  our 
political  machinery,  looked  at  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a  really  Christian  democracy.  And 
after  the  state  come  the  great  forward  move- 
ments toward  an  international  life,  with  its 
ultimate  abandonment  of  war  and  reference  to 
an  international  court. 


AMELIORATION  MEASURES  CLASSIFIED     263 

For  some  these  various  reforms  will  effect  a 
sufficient  change,  they  think,  and  there  is  needed 
no  dream  of  a  reorganized  society.  This  is  not 
lack  of  moral  earnestness  or  want  of  balanced 
judgment.  With  some  it  may  be  that  they  have 
no  imagination  to  hold  them  to  their  task;  with 
others  it  is  skepticism  as  to  the  validity  of  in- 
tellectual arguments.  With  some  it  may  be 
mental  inertia  or  lack  of  fancy;  with  others  it 
is  lack  of  insight,  perhaps,  into  the  actual  facts 
of  life.  The  main  question  is,  Do  we  see  evil  in 
our  social  order,  and  are  we  willing  as  far  as 
we  see  it  to  apply  remorselessly  and  at  any 
personal  sacrifice  the  remedy  that  seems  to  us 
to  promise  most? 

When  we  have  seen  an  evil  and  think  we 
have  found  a  remedy,  it  generally  for  the  time 
being  fills  our  whole  horizon,  and  it  is  natural 
and  right  it  should.  We  need  to  be  intense  and 
in  earnest,  and  n^thingisso  crippled  as  the 
reforming  mind  that  is  too  sicklied  o'er  with 
the  pale  cast  of  thought  to  really  make  up  and 
hold  to  a  fixed  plan.  To  the  ardent  individual- 
ist or  socialist  who  sees  the  whole  transformed 
society  mapped  out  as  clearly  as  a  coast  head- 
land on  a  bright  winter  day,  the  doubts  and 
hesitancy,  the  half -believed  objections,  and  the 
old  well-worn  difficulties  that  have  been 
answered  to  the  reformer's  satisfaction  a  thou- 
sand times,  but  which  only  serve  as  an  excuse 


264  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

for  the  hesitant  fear,  seem  simply  stupid.  He 
would  plunge  everybody  at  once  into  the  heat 
of  the  battle,  and  is  restlessly  impatient  that 
men  are  not  willing  to  take  his  word  for  it  that 
all  difficulties  have  been  foreseen  and  met.  He 
thinks  there  must  be  moral  obtuseness.  And 
there  often  is,  but  more  often  we  battle  both 
within  and  without  with  an  atmosphere  which 
we  did  not  create,  but  in  which  we  have  lived 
all  our  life  long.  It  is  the  consciousness  of  our 
calling,  or  our  surroundings,  or  our  group ;  and 
we  not  only  cannot  escape  it,  but  it  would  be 
extremely  unsettling  and  dangerous  to  be  sud- 
denly deprived  of  it.  It  has  its  distinct  mean- 
ing for  us,  and  we  will  carry  it  into  all  our  re- 
forming activity. 

Furthermore,  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  few  of  us  have  any  large  store  of 
surplus  energy.  After  the  duties  that  must  be 
attended  to  are  done,  after  the  expenses  that 
must  be  met  are  provided  for,  there  remains 
some  little  surplus,  perhaps,  of  mental,  phys- 
ical, and  material  resource.  The  claims  upon  it 
are  insistent.  The  organized  Church  has  her 
claim,  the  political  situation  makes  an  exceed- 
ingly imperative  demand.  Then  come  recre- 
ation and  outside  interests,  and  now  to  this 
preoccupied  mind  comes  the  claim  of  an  en- 
tirely unknown  social  order,  demanding  faith 
and  knowledge  in  high  degree.  No  wonder  that 


AMELIORATION  MEASURES  CLASSIFIED     265 

old  phrases  serve  the  place  of  thought,  and  that 
half-rejected  objections  still  excuse  the  mental 
inertia  that  refuses  to  grapple  with  so  tremen- 
dous a  theme.  For  this  reason  in  classifying 
reform  measures  and  trying  to  interest  socially 
unawakened  persons  it  is  well  to  get  them 
started  on  reforms  near  their  life  and  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance.  Many  a  father  might  be 
interested  in  children's  courts  if  he  once  saw 
what  it  really  means  for  hundreds  of  boys  and 
girls  like  his  own  in  all  save  dress  and  home 
training.  Nearly  all  right-minded  women  can 
be  moved  by  the  woes  and  hardships  of  child 
labor.  He  who  thinks  he  has  a  message  and  a 
program  will  often  do  well  to  work  up  to  it  by 
well-chosen  steps,  and  train  those  who  are  awak- 
ening gradually  to  social  moral  autonomy.  The 
classification  of  reform  proposals  is  therefore 
not  simply  academic.  The  dream  of  the  king- 
dom needs  workers,  and  wise,  tactful  workers, 
both  men  and  women,  who  will  train  as  well  as 
awaken.  It  is  really  of  more  importance  to 
get  men  and  women  thinking  for  themselves  on 
the  basis  of  social  righteousness  than  to  carry 
them  intellectually  over  into  the  ranks  of  this 
or  that  social  proposal. 

Proper  classification  will  also  go  a  long  way 
to  comprehension  of  the  real  spirit  of  any  re- 
form movement.  When  we  ask  ourselves, 
"What  does  this  reform  aim  at?"  we  have  al- 


266  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ready  to  some  degree  passed  judgment  on  many 
of  them ;  for  whatever  our  point  of  view  it  will 
.exclude  some  efforts  that  make  their  appeal  to 
us,  simply  because  their  success  would  be  really 
doing  what  we  deem  undesirable.  Those  who 
do  not  really  believe  in  democracy  will  not  be 
likely  to  want  woman's  suffrage.  Those  who 
see  in  the  competitive  process  a  wholesome 
stamping  out  of  the  inefficient  should  in  good 
logic  hardly  contribute  to  rescue  homes  and 
various  proposals  for  staying  that  process. 
Some  contribute  time  and  strength  to  organiza- 
tions that  claim  their  sympathy,  but  which  do 
not  claim  their  really  intelligent  sympathy,  and 
much  would  be  gained  in  every  way  if  men  and 
women  really  took  into  consideration  the  ulti- 
mate aims  of  all  measures  of  relief  and  reform. 
The  distinctly  Christian  man  would  do  well 
to  keep  the  Christian  point  of  view  constantly 
in  mind.  The  ultimate  aim  of  the  Christian  life 
should  be  so  distinct  and  clear  that  we  would 
not  go  on,  as  we  sometimes  have  gone  on,  being 
deceived  by  appearances,  and  lending  aid  and 
comfort  to  efforts  that  are  actually  antichris- 
tian.  Thoughtless  good  nature  sometimes  ac- 
cepts intentions  which  are  on  their  face  good  as 
sufficient  warrant  for  supporting  movements 
whose  real  outcome  is  destructive  of  our  most 
highly  prized  values.  The  socially  awakened 
Christian  must  try  to  think  out  for  himself  or 


AMELIORATION  MEASURES  CLASSIFIED     267 

herself  the  outcome  of  all  measures  brought  to 
our  attention  as  they  affect  the  whole  situation. 
Only  in  this  way  can  we  really  helpfully  act, 
and  struggle  for  conditions  of  life  more  truly 
noble  and  more  consonant  with  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  review  all  the 
proposals  for  relief,  education,  and  reform  that 
are  now  before  us;  it  will  not  be  possible  to 
even  so  classify  them  that  important  groups 
are  not  omitted;  but  the  remaining  chapters 
will  attempt  to  point  out  the  bearings  of 
various  types  of  proposed  relief  and  aid  to 
wounded  humanity  in  the  light  of  Christian 
ethics. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  ETHICS  OP  PERSONAL,  RELIEF 

THOSE  who  reduce  the  words  of  Jesus  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  a  new  code  of  external 
law  regard  themselves  as  bound  to  give  to  all 
who  ask.  The  impossible  character  of  this  in- 
terpretation hardly  needs  any  emphasis  here. 
The  principle  at  the  bottom  of  the  injunction 
is  even  more  sweeping  than  any  literal  interpre- 
tation makes  it.  All  life  is  a  giving  of  ourselves 
to  the  limit  of  our  capacity  for  others,  if  we  are 
really  trying  to  live  as  Jesus  did.  And  in  our 
giving  the  controlling  purpose  is  redemptive 
love.  When,  therefore,  anyone  makes  demand 
upon  our  time  or  strength  or  our  material  re- 
sources, the  question  is,  "What  is  the  loving 
thing  to  do,  what  most  tends  to  redeem  this 
human  life  ? "  On  the  streets  of  a  great  city  we 
are  constantly  addressed  by  persons  who  beg. 
It  is  perfectly  hopeless  to  try  to  divide  them 
into  two  classes,  "the  deserving  poor"  and 
"the  undeserving  poor."  Who  are  we  to  say 
any  man  is  deserving  or  undeserving?  Freely 
we  have  received.  Were  we  deserving?  What 
is  "deserving,"  and  who  is  the  judge?  The 
objection  to  giving  money  on  the  street  to  all 

268 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         269 

who  ask  it  is  not  that  some  are  deserving  and 
others  not,  but  that  it  is  often  the  lazy,  selfish, 
unloving  thing  to  do.  You  may  by  it  be  de- 
moralizing a  brother  or  sister  even  more 
thoroughly  than  hunger  and  cold  are  doing  it. 
Even  well-meant  gifts  do  often  demoralize,  and 
nearly  all  unloving  giving  is  poison. 

The  coordination  of  works  of  mercy  by 
"charity  organization  societies"  in  the  United 
States  has  proved  a  most  useful  and  necessary 
work.  The  fountains  of  benevolence  were  in 
danger  of  being  stopped  because  fraud  and 
injudicious  help,  with  its  outcome  of  moral 
danger,  began  to  make  men  afraid  to  give.  At 
the  same  time,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
ordinary  " charity  organization  society"  is  only 
a  stopgap.  The  officers  who  administer  relief, 
no  matter  how  tender-hearted  and  well-inten- 
tioned, are  fairly  swamped  with  applications. 
They  at  last  come  to  feel  that  they  are  being 
"worked."  The  relief  is  impersonal  and  of- 
ficial, to  some  degree  cold  and  hence  demoraliz- 
ing. For  it  is  bad  to  be  dependent,  to  have 
to  drop  the  role  of  service  and  be  served,  but 
to  be  served  unlovingly,  mechanically,  hardens 
and  degrades.  In  great  cities  a  certain  class 
take  delight  in  "working"  charity  organiza- 
tions as  a  sort  of  game,  and  the  officials  become 
shrewd  and  suspicious,  and  applicants  who 
come  to  them  for  the  first  time  feel  degraded 


270  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

and  humiliated  by  the  close  questioning  and  the 
necessary  examination  into  the  truth  of  state- 
ments made.  The  process,  therefore,  by  which 
this  natural  shame  is  gradually  overcome  is  a 
hardening  and  demoralizing  process.  Men  who 
start  out  with  good  intentions  soon  become  used 
to  the  game,  and  in  spite  of  every  care  "work" 
to  their  own  hurt  the  organized  charity  of  the 
country.  It  is  easy  to  criticise,  and  hard  to 
suggest  a  remedy,  but,  useful  as  is  organized 
charity  for  certain  purposes,  it  can  never  really 
take  the  place  of  even  less  wisely  given  but  more 
personal  assistance. 

In  addition  the  tests  of  "worthy"  and  "un- 
worthy" must  be  mechanical  and  unreal.  The 
"work"  test  is  not  really  a  test  as  to  whether 
men  and  women  would  be  industrious  under 
normal  conditions.  The  work  is  artificial  and 
somewhat  unnatural,  the  conditions  generally 
repulsive.  What  is  meant  by  "unworthy"  is, 
of  course,  that  large  class  of  persons  who  im- 
pose by  false  statement  upon  charity,  and  who 
by  fraud  live  comfortably  on  the  labor  of  others. 
To  help  any  man  to  become  a  parasite,  whether 
a  wealthy  parasite  or  a  poor  parasite,  is  to 
fatally  wound  his  humanity.  At  the  same  time 
the  line  is  very  hard  to  draw.  Who  of  us  knows 
how  far  his  or  her  own  life  is  essentially  para- 
sitic or  semiparasitic?  Who  can  tell  how  far 
applicants  for  relief  are  really  past  loving  re- 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         271 

demption?  Suppose  a  patent  "fraud"  ap- 
proaches us.  What  is  the  loving  thing,  to  him, 
to  society,  to  yourself  to  do?  Could  you  ac- 
tually change  his  mode  of  life  and  open  his 
eyes  to  the  ignoble  misuse  of  his  energies,  you 
would  have  accomplished  more  for  him  and  for 
society  than  if  you  had  him  " punished"  for  his 
fraud,  and  sent  out  even  successfully  terrorized 
into  honesty. 

One  great  corrupting  element  in  the  almsgiv- 
ing of  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  sense  that  men 
did  it  not  for  the  sake  of  the  man  relieved,  but 
for  the  sake  of  the  soul  of  the  giver.  It  was 
regarded  as  a  virtue  to  give  away  money  and 
to  live  upon  others.  One  saved  one's  soul  by 
poverty  and  dependence.  Whereas  life  is  serv- 
ice, and  we  should  give  not  to  save  our  souls, 
but  the  souls  of  others. 

In  all  giving,  therefore,  the  Christian  seeks 
not  simply  the  welfare,  but  the  highest  welfare, 
of  his  fellow  men.  The  goal  is  autonomy. 
Hence  anything  that  weakens  the  moral  au- 
tonomy of  a  fellow  man  is  bad.  The  reckless, 
ignorant  giving  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  morally 
weakening.  The  defense  of  it  by  an  English 
socialist  reveals  an  entire  misapprehension  both 
of  the  spirit  of  the  giving  and  the  effects  of  it. 
It  was  feudalistic  paternalism,  and  no  matter 
what  seemed  to  be  the  contentment  and  peace 
it  purchased  it  purchased  it  in  the  long  run  at 


272  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  price  of  manhood  and  democracy  in  both 
the  giver  and  the  receiver.  The  giver  must  be 
intelligent,  not  to  save  his  pocket  or  prevent 
himself  being  imposed  upon,  but  for  the  sake 
of  the  receiver.  It  is  often  only  an  easy  piece 
of  luxury  when  one  has  the  money  to  give  it 
away.  But  it  can  do  as  much  harm  as  good. 
And  any  use  of  money  to  superinduce  depend- 
ence upon  the  giver  at  the  expense  of  self -regu- 
lation is  so  much  moral  loss. 

It  is  therefore  not  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  the  help  misfortune  needs  comes  from 
the  group  or  from  the  individual.  Dependence 
upon  the  group  has  its  marked  dangers,  but 
they  do  not  compare  with  the  danger  of  indi- 
vidual personal  dependence  upon  another  indi- 
vidual. Large  areas  of  thought  and  feeling 
are  fenced  in  when  the  relationship  of  the 
dependence  is  personal,  which  are  open  to  sky 
and  breeze  when  the  relationship  is  of  an  indi- 
vidual to  his  group.  And  the  reason  of  this  is 
because  the  group  is  the  larger  self,  and  in  its 
larger  relations  is  dependent  upon  all  the  indi- 
viduals in  it,  giving  a  sense  of  autonomy  even 
in  obedience  to  its  commands.  This  sense  of 
interdependence  is  moral  and  stimulating  where 
personal  dependence  is  enervating  and  de- 
pressing. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  reach  full  au- 
tonomy in  many  cases.  Some  children  never 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         273 

become  really  mature,  many  never  want  to  be- 
come independent  and  free.  Yet  the  object  of 
education  is  moral  freedom,  and  even  in  deal- 
ing with  those  who  appeal  to  us,  so  far  as  in 
us  lies,  the  object  is  to  render  them  capable  of 
self-maintenance.  And  as  we  survey  the 
various  instrumentalities  for  aiding  people 
those  should  appeal  most  strongly  to  us  which 
have  this  as  the  goal. 

Thus  hospitals  have  a  foremost  claim  upon 
us.  The  sick  man  must,  if  possible,  be  restored 
to  health.  The  hospital  should  be  as  ready  of 
access  as  the  public  school.  And  all  preventive 
treatment  should  be  still  more  encouraged. 
There  is  terrible  lack  of  proper  social  organiza- 
tion at  this  point.  No  one  can  deal  for  a  few 
days  with  industrial  inefficiency  without  realiz- 
ing how  much  of  it  is  due  not  to  idleness  or 
laziness  or  drink  or  badness,  but  to  physical 
and  psychic  ill  health.  Shortsightedness, 
growths  in  nose  and  throat,  lack  of  nervous 
coordination,  bad  digestion,  defective  hearing, 
bad  lungs  or  heart — these  force  themselves 
upon  us,  together  with  all  kinds  of  sexual 
derangements  and  hysterical  impulses,  as  often 
primary  causes  of  marked  industrial  in- 
efficiency. Many  of  these  ills  could  be  cured, 
more  could  have  been  prevented,  all  must  be 
treated  if  self-maintenance  is  even  to  be  hoped 
for.  From  the  Christian  point  of  view  the  value 


274  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

of  human  life  is  supreme.  The  weakest  de- 
mand our  care,  and  here  is  where  the  red-cross 
work  must  begin.  The  need  here  of  the  personal 
touch  is  greater  than  anywhere  else.  The 
pain-racked  mind  and  body  is  most  sensitive  to 
love  and  sympathy  and  cries  out  for  human 
companionship  in  the  hour  of  weakness.  No 
theorist  can  be  quite  so  extreme  as  to  say,  "Let 
them  alone."  Neither  the  advocate  of  ruth- 
less competition  nor  the  radical  reformer  can 
quite  face  the  logic  of  a  position  that  says  it 
is  better  to  do  nothing,  the  process  of  elimina- 
tion is  wholesome,  or  do  nothing  until  a  new 
social  order  makes  this  thing  impossible.  Were 
they  to  persuade  us  to  such  neglect  we  would 
become  brutalized  and  dehumanized.  Pain, 
weakness,  and  immaturity  educate  us  to  try  to 
help,  and  teach  us  the  mystery  of  life.  The 
goal  of  our  endeavor  is,  of  course,  always  self- 
maintenance,  health,  and  independence,  but  we 
are  nevertheless  always  in  the  presence  of 
dependence  and  immaturity. 

Those  who  work  in  individual  relief  soon 
come  to  value  economic  independence,  and  to 
aim  at  it.  It  is,  however,  not  always  remem- 
bered that  the  basis  of  economic  independence 
is  independence  of  thought  and  moral  auton- 
omy. All  down  the  history  of  humanity  group 
solidarity  has  been  so  important  that  any 
divergence  was  looked  at  with  suspicion.  To 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         275 

maintain  the  "ways  of  the  tribe"  was  the 
foundation  of  all  virtue.  This  idea  haunts  us 
still.  All  individuality  is  looked  upon  as 
"freakish,"  or  "crankism."  And  more  par- 
ticularly the  unfortunate  ones  from  an  eco- 
nomic point  of  view  must  "be  sane  and  right- 
thinking"  before  they  can  appeal  to  the  average 
sympathy.  Here  again  much  blundering  is  due 
to  the  official  rather  than  personal  point  of 
view.  It  is  true  that  unconventionality  is  a 
luxury  that  only  the  economically  fortunate 
can  at  present  indulge  in,  but  society  would  be 
much  richer  if  the  special  gifts  and  aptitudes 
of  men  were  more  studied,  and  if  the  personal 
relief  consisted  in  adapting  such  aptitude  to 
the  needs  of  the  community.  To  the  conven- 
tional person  all  novelty  of  thought  or  feeling 
seems  strange  and  even  wicked.  The  com- 
fortable mind  runs  in  a  groove,  and  sees  no 
advantage  in  the  harum-scarum  adventures  of 
an  all  too  curious  inquirer. 

At  this  point  the  Salvation  Army  should 
teach  us  important  lessons.  It  is  amazing  to  see 
what  that  organization  has  gotten  out  of  the 
waste  products  of  humanity,  and  very  largely 
by  letting  men  and  women  work  in  their  own 
way,  and  rather  encouraging  them  to  be 
"queer"  and  unconventional.  It  was  also  one 
of  the  strong  points  of  early  Methodism  that 
men  and  women  who  joined  it  were  at  once 


276  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

marked  down  as  " eccentric,"  and  thus  were 
set  free  to  live  their  own  lives,  and  richly  re- 
paid the  community  for  this  freedom.  Ecclesi- 
asticism  shares  with  all  organization  the  char- 
acteristic that  it  instinctively  opposes  change 
and  dislikes  novelty,  and  church  relief  is  often 
linked  with  cramping  demands  upon  the  recipi- 
ent. Nor  is  this  the  fault  of  churches  only. 
All  institutions  are  apt  to  ' '  standardize " 
conduct,  and  demand  conformity  to  type  in  a 
most  unwholesome  way.  For  this  reason  in 
orphan  asylums,  industrial  schools,  reforma- 
tories, trade  schools,  etc.,  where  a  certain  con- 
formity to  an  outward  discipline  is  simply  a 
mechanical  necessity — for  without  a  certain 
routine  the  institution  simply  could  not  handle 
the  crowd — there  is  grave  danger  of  marring 
the  individual  life  forever.  Individuality  is 
repressed,  moral  autonomy  is  made  almost  im- 
possible, the  whole  reaction  upon  the  individ- 
ual's world  is  impoverished  and  weakened. 

Those,  therefore,  who  have  to  deal  with  insti- 
tutions for  extended  aid  should  bear  this 
danger  in  mind,  and  offset  the  necessary  rou- 
tine by  distinct  encouragement  of  all  the  latent 
"queernesses"  without  which  the  social  inertia 
can  never  be  overcome.  Much  that  in  an  insti- 
tution or  very  conventional  social  group  be- 
comes "queer"  to  the  limits  of  insanity  would 
have  been  simply  charming  and  interesting  di- 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         277 

versity  of  thought  and  feeling  in  a  more  con- 
genial atmosphere.  It  would  be  well  to  avoid 
too  great  uniformity  of  dress,  and  even  to 
cultivate,  perhaps,  irregularity  of  hours  at 
some  time  in  the  day.  For  the  most  part  meals 
must  be  eaten  together,  but  if  once  a  week  or 
even  oftener  meals  could  be  taken  in  the  even- 
ing at  any  time  within  a  certain  range  it  would 
be  a  great  relief  to  many  institutions.  It  is 
easy  for  most  of  us  to  fall  into  routine,  and 
many  take  a  curious  pride  in  having  done  the 
same  thing  for  years  at  the  same  time  in  the 
same  way,  but  such  a  habit  can  become  the  most 
fatal  tyranny,  and  in  the  inevitable  change  of 
circumstances  to  which  all  are  exposed  the  lack 
of  power  to  adapt  oneself  to  the  new  situation 
may  prove  disastrous. 

In  all  dealing,  therefore,  with  those  who  for 
the  time  being  are  dependent  the  main  thing 
is  to  keep  future  independence  in  mind.  And 
this  independence  should  be  economic,  mental, 
and  moral.  More  particularly  should  the  really 
thoughtful  radical  prize  all  work  that  lifts  men 
out  of  the  ruts  into  which  weaker  humanity 
easily  sinks.  The  greatest  difficulty  moral  and 
religious  progress  has  to  contend  with  is  in- 
ertia ;  the  lack  of  interest ;  the  indifference  and 
carelessness  of  the  average  man  and  woman. 
This  is  born  of  the  small  residuum  of  energy 
left  over  from  the  daily  toil.  Few  of  us  have 


278  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

much  more  than  carries  us  rather  ineffectively 
through  the  daily  routine.  To  weaken  indi- 
viduality or  cramp  any  personal  initiative  is 
exceedingly  shortsighted. 

All  proposals  that  look  toward  the  preven- 
tion of  economic  disadvantage  should  have  the 
Christian  man's  support.  The  wageworker 
should  be  protected  at  the  machine  or  on  the 
railway.  Insurance  against  accidents  and  old 
age,  provision  for  self-respecting  care  in  sick- 
ness or  disability — all  these  measures  are  far 
short  of  radical  social  readjustment,  but  they 
look  forward  to  it  and  train  men  for  it.  The 
state  paternalism  of  Germany  is  not  the  model 
most  Christian  radicals  in  America  or  England 
set  before  themselves.  But  it  is  in  its  workings 
compelling  men  to  become  democratic.  And 
quite .  recently  steps  have  been  taken  looking 
toward  the  autonomy  of  trade  organizations 
which  may  yet  become  models  for  industrial 
England  and  America.  The  world  is  linked  to- 
gether now  by  steam  and  electricity,  but  the 
whole  question  of  the  labor  market,  and  the 
question  of  supply  and  demand,  is  unorganized 
and  inefficient.  The  manual  worker  is  often  tied 
to  locality  where  he  should  be  free  to  wander, 
and  made  to  wander  where  he  should  have  had 
an  opportunity  to  take  root  with  his  family 
group  in  the  soil.  The  help  extended  to  the  in- 
dividual must,  therefore,  not  only  seek  his  au- 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         279 

tonomy,  but  try  to  supply  him  with  access  to 
the  industrial  opportunity.  We  are  now 
confronted  with  the  sorry  spectacle  of  waste 
land  and  wasted  men.  The  best  help  that  can 
be  extended  is  access  to  the  tools  of  society 
and  training  in  their  use. 

Organized  labor  is  sometimes  naturally 
jealous  of  the  aid  extended  to  individuals,  for 
it  sees  in  those  thus  aided  a  favored  competi- 
tion. Thus  industrial  training,  trade  schools, 
etc.,  may  turn  out,  at  the  expense  of  the  com- 
munity, favored  artisans  to  compete  with  the 
less  favored  workingman's  son  and  thrust  him 
down  into  the  ranks  of  the  relatively  unskilled. 
While  this  danger  is  real,  the  other  alternative 
is  far  more  serious.  Nothing  depresses  the 
labor  market  more  than  the  clamors  for  work 
of  an  ineffective  and  half-trained  proletariat. 
Individual  aid,  therefore,  if  it  really  makes  for 
independence  and  efficiency,  is  not  so  real  a 
menace  as  the  pressure  of  the  crowd  of  appli- 
cants for  work.  In  the  end  all  inefficiency  and 
disability  is  paid  for  by  those  who  work  with 
brain  and  muscle. 

He  or  she  who  extends  individual  aid  should 
also  remember  that  the  main  lack  in  all  of  us 
is  inspiration  and  definite  purpose.  It  may 
seem  difficult  or  even  impossible  to  greatly  in- 
spire starving  men  or  sick  women.  Yet  often 
while  feeding  the  hungry  and  nursing  the  sick 


280  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

more  would  eventually  be  done  for  them  by 
filling  them  with  enthusiasm  big  enough  to  carry 
them  forward  in  their  struggle  with  economic 
disadvantage.  Here  religious  enthusiasm  has 
been  the  great  restorer  of  human  energy.  To- 
day religious  enthusiasm  suffusing  the  social 
activity  is  actually  giving  men  and  women  new 
economic  efficiency  and  is  restoring  them  to 
life  and  health.  Churches  and  individuals  can- 
not leave  the  "down  and  outs"  to  starve. and 
die,  and  while  they  are  being  cared  for  if  they 
can  be  filled  with  hope  and  enthusiasm  for  the 
dream  of  God's  kingdom  here  on  earth  they 
may  be  sent  out  no  longer  in  the  ranks  of  rather 
demoralized  dependence,  but  as  ministers  to 
the  communal  life,  and  rich  dispensers  of  the 
message  of  the  coming  city  of  God.  For  such 
brothers  and  sisters  in  misfortune  the  aspect 
of  the  religious  life  that  has  most  significance 
will  not  be  its  theoretic  and  theological  expla- 
nations, but  its  practical  and  immediate  aims 
and  ambitions. 

One  reason  why  miscellaneous,  indiscriminate 
giving  does  harm  rather  than  good  is  that  the 
moral  impartation,  the  hope,  courage,  am- 
bition, and  inspiration  which  are  quite  as  much 
needed  as  the  temporary  relief,  so  seldom  really 
accompany  it.  The  recipient  of  real  material 
kindness  goes  so  often  away  depressed,  sub- 
consciously humiliated,  weakened  in  moral  tone, 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PERSONAL  RELIEF         281 

and  yet  all  the  more  ready  to  abandon  inde- 
pendence and  trust  to  the  exertions  of  others 
for  support.  Such  demoralized  natures  are  the 
hardest  social  material  the  would-be  reformer 
finds.  Even  when  they  querulously  complain 
they  cannot  be  easily  aroused  to  moral  en- 
thusiasm or  effective  protest  against  even  the 
conditions  that  were  perhaps  partly  responsible 
for  bringing  them  so  low.  Into  Christian  giv- 
ing there  must  be  introduced  the  irrepressible 
courage  and  joy  that  breathe  through  Paul, 
and  souls  must  even  in  the  hour  of  their  deser- 
tion and  economic  humiliation  be  made  to  feel 
that  they  have  a  part  to  play,  and  play  nobly,  in 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  reign  of 
loving  justice. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

SOCIAL  AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME 

THE  basis  of  the  ethics  of  Jesus  is  the  home 
group.  The  ideal  fatherhood  and  the  loving 
interrelations  of  brotherhood  and  sisterhood 
make  up  the  constant  background  of  Jesus 's 
thought.  Hence,  for  those  of  us  who  believe 
with  Jesus  the  breaking  up  of  the  home  that  is 
taking  place  under  commercial  industrialism  is 
one  of  the  most  startling  and  depressing  fea- 
tures of  our  ethical  situation.  The  rise  of  in- 
dustrial womanhood  is  bad  enough,  but  the 
grinding  up  of  childhood  in  our  glass  and  cotton 
factories  is  shameful  in  the  last  degree.  One 
can  hardly  look  at  the  bright  facets  of  a  cut 
glass  without  seeing  in  them  the  tears  of  little 
children  robbed  of  their  childhood.  And  we, 
the  chief  hypocrites  and  sinners  in  this  busi- 
ness, then  laugh  at  the  army  of  industrial  wrecks 
that  figure  in  our  " comic"  supplements  as 
" "Weary  Willie."  Who  made  poor  little  Willie 
so  weary  as  a  boy,  swinging  his  glass  tube  or 
picking  at  the  breaker,  that  work  became  a 
nightmare  to  him,  and  all  the  springs  of  normal 
industry  snapped?  In  the  dirty  city  telegraph 
office,  in  the  messenger  service,  in  the  mills  and 

282 


AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME  283 

mines  Christian  men  and  women  may  see  the 
great  army  of  exploited  stunted  childhood,  from 
which,  perhaps,  in  dividends  we  draw  our  com- 
fortable income.  Some  become  useful  and 
splendid  citizens  in  spite  of  all  we  can  do,  but  a 
great  mass  sink  to  the  level  of  lowest  industrial 
efficiency,1  and  many  become  thieves,  tramps, 
and  "yeggmen,"  to  revenge  bitter  wrongs  upon 
a  community  that  richly  deserves  it. 

The  seriously  minded  Christian  who  seeks 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  should  intelli- 
gently set  about  the  work  of  saving  the  Ameri- 
can home.  Even  for  the  middle  class,  hotels, 
boarding  houses,  and  light  housekeeping  flats 
are  taking  the  place  of  homes,  not  only  in  the 
larger  cities,  but  also  in  the  towns.  The  Tene- 
ment Commission  of  New  York  has  done  some- 
thing to  raise  the  character  of  tenement  houses — 
and  rents  have  correspondingly  increased!  All 
indirect  taxation  falls  most  heavily  upon  the 
small  home,  and  the  abominable  ingenuity  of 
the  taxation  system  of  most  countries  is  break- 
ing up  the  family  and  giving  us  a  state  of  things 
that  is  beyond  description.  The  grisette  sys- 
tem has  fastened  itself  upon  New  York,  and 
scores  of  shop  girls  live  the  life  of  the  Parisian 
grisette  because  wages  are  low,  and  pretty 

1  For  trustworthy  facts  see  "  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Political  and  Social  Science,"  vol.  xxix,  No.  1,  1907,  and  the  sup- 
plements 1907-1908  on  "  Child  Labor  and  Social  Progress";  also 
the  two  handbooks  on  "Child  Labor  Legislation '?  of  1907  and  1908. 


284  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

dresses  and  a  few  hours  of  amusement  seem 
little  enough  from  life  for  them,  when  their 
rich  sisters  have  so  much !  Poor  girls  are  sell- 
ing the  bloom  of  their  young  womanhood  for  a 
mess  of  pottage.  And  we  preachers  in  the 
pulpit  prate  of  the  American  home !  We  little 
know  of  what  is  going  on  all  about  us.  The 
community  has  a  direct  interest  in  healthy 
motherhood  and  pure  womanhood  and  clean 
manhood.  But  disease  stalks  sullenly  among 
us,  leaving  its  sad  wake  of  ruined  souls  and 
bodies. 

In  the  great  city  the  homeless  life  of  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  suggests  the  need  for 
temporary  substitutes  for  the  home  for  lonely 
boys  and  girls.  The  saloon,  the  dance  hall, 
and  the  cheap  and  often  nasty  vaudeville 
are  now  almost  a  necessity  for  many  thousands 
whom  settlements,  clubs,  churches,  and  the 
Christian  home  might  save  in  greater  numbers. 
But  responsible  and  wise  regulation  of  the 
amusements  of  town  and  city  is  greatly  needed. 
Here  again  the  danger  is  great  that  a  comforta- 
ble influential  minority  agitate  for  and  secure 
measures  that  fit  in  with  the  ideas  of  right  and 
wrong  they  hold,  but  which  have  no  application 
to  the  quite  different  ethical  life  of  other  strata 
of  society.  The  only  safe  guides  are  knowledge 
and  sympathy.  The  day  of  rest  is  a  priceless 
heritage,  but  a  small  badly  ventilated  hall  bed- 


AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME  285 

room  and  a  frowsy  crowded  "parlor"  with  the 
odors  of  the  meal  still  in  it  are  very  unattract- 
ive places  for  the  Sunday  rest.  Many  a  boy 
and  girl  straight  from  a  country  home  of 
decency  and  cheerfulness  has  spent  sad,  lonely 
hours  when  first  swallowed  up  by  the  great  big 
seemingly  heartless  city.  The  churches  do,  of 
course,  something,  but  one  cannot  "go  all  day 
to  church, "  as  a  nice  Christian  girl  once  said  to 
the  writer.  One  of  the  first  interests  is  to  keep 
one  day  in  seven  free  from  all  unnecessary 
labor.  Even  the  case  of  unorganized  domestic 
labor  should  not  be  neglected.  The  law  can- 
not enforce  a  religious  day.  Only  the  religious 
man  can  spend  the  day  religiously.  All  the  law 
can  and  should  do  is  to  secure  opportunity  for 
the  religious  man  to  spend  it  as  he  pleases.  Nor 
can  the  law  be  based  on  the  Old  Testament. 
We  are  not  on  the  basis  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  the  "Lord's  Day"  was  not  a  day  when  the 
early  Christians  could  suspend  labor.  They  were 
too  economically  dependent  as  slaves  or  wage- 
earners  to  determine  how  they  should  spend 
the  day.  They  crept  early  to  the  morning 
sacrament,  but  the  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in 
work. 

Social  expedience  is  the  one  basis  on  which 
the  Christian  man  may  safely  and  confidently 
appeal  for  a  workless  seventh  of  the  time.  All 
labor  unions,  all  employees,  all  purveyors  of 


286  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

amusement  should  be  encouraged  to  organize 
for  the  severest  measures  to  protect  every  man 
in  the  enjoyment  of  one  day  in  seven  as  a  day  of 
rest.  Then  the  churches,  schools,  settlements, 
clubs,  and  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 
should  see  to  it  that  the  day  is  made  in  the 
highest  sense  a  day  of  elevation,  instruction, 
worship,  and  harmless  unbending.  For  recre- 
ation is  as  needful  as  any  other  activity  for  the 
healthy  minded,  and  the  music  supplied  by  the 
churches  could  be  greatly  improved  and  ex- 
tended. Men  cannot  be  driven,  they  must  be 
won  to  religion,  and,  of  course,  if  any  large 
body  of  our  fellow  citizens  use  the  day  for 
amusement  simply,  so  long  as  they  do  not  inter- 
fere with  the  rights  of  others,  we  should  not 
prevent  them. 

The  hopeless  character  of  any  morality  that 
is  external  to  the  life,  and  thrust  upon  it  from 
without,  is  nowhere  better  seen  than  in  the 
enforcement  of  Sunday  regulations,  wholesome 
enough  for  the  lawmakers  and  not,  perhaps, 
intelligently  opposed  by  the  majority,  but 
simply  unreal  to  them.  Thus,  for  instance,  a 
Scotch  city  in  olden  days  was  the  most  drunken 
and  disorderly  place  in  the  United  Kingdom 
on  Saturday  night,  and  the  dreariest  and  most 
hopeless  place  for  the  poor  on  Sunday.  The 
sober,  industrious,,  though  formal  and  often 
pharisaic  middle  class  were  the  respectable  and 


AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME  287 

lawmaking  majority.  They  enacted  their  mo- 
rality for  all,  and  drunkenness  and  illegitimacy 
made  "God-fearing"  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow 
bywords.  Not,  indeed,  that  the  churchgoing 
population  was  really  drunken,  but  that  the 
population  was  not  really  churchgoing  even  at 
the  best  of  times. 

The  ideal  for  the  home  would  be  one  day  in 
the  week  for  its  fullest  enjoyment,  but  there 
must  first  be  the  home.  Here  is  where  Christian 
men  and  women  who  find  it  hard  to  accept  any 
theory  of  social  reorganization  as  yet  presented 
to  them  are  in  duty  bound  to  study  the  facts 
and  to  seek  the  causes  for  the  rapid  disinte- 
gration of  the  American  home.  In  meetings  of 
radical  workingmen  to-day  one  of  the  pressing 
and  startling  questions  forcing  themselves  to 
the  front  is,  what  shall  be  the  relation  of  un- 
married young  workingmen  and  the  unmarried 
industrial  working  girls,  who  cannot  bear  chil- 
dren because  of  the  economic  situation,  but  who 
crave  companionship  and  the  satisfaction  of 
the  most  imperious  instincts.  No  civilization 
bought  at  the  price  we  seem  called  to  pay  for 
it  is  worth  having.  If  it  be  said  this  is  a  ques- 
tion that  is  acute  only  in  the  great  city  the  facts 
do  not  bear  the  statement  out.  Not  only  are  we 
rapidly  becoming  a  city  population,  but  the  con- 
ditions in  the  mill  towns  of  New  England  and 
the  South  are  described  by  those  who  know 


288  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

them  in  much  the  same  terms  as  the  great 
cities. 

The  Koman  Catholic  Church  has  sought  to 
stay  divorce,  and  points  with  stern  reproach  to 
the  increasing  evils  of  divorce  in  nearly  all 
Protestant  lands.  It  is  not  enough  to  make  the 
reply  that  in  countries  like  Spain,  Italy,  and 
France,  which  the  Papacy  had  full  opportunity 
to  train  and  educate,  concubinage  is  a  recog- 
nized social  factor  against  which  the  Church 
has  protested  vainly.  The  fact  remains  that 
divorces  are  a  sign  of  deep-lying  and  terrible 
evils.  If  the  home  is  to  be  conserved  the  moral 
and  economic  conditions  out  of  which  it  comes 
must  be  studied.  The  basis  of  a  really  Chris- 
tian morality  is  the  pure  family  group.  If 
economic  conditions  are  making  that  group  dif- 
ficult or  even  in  some  cases  impossible,  then 
here  is  where  social  amelioration  must  begin. 

The  comfortable  possessing  class  must  awake 
to  the  fact  that  at  the  feet  of  refined  and  deli- 
cately nurtured  daughters  whose  lives  seem 
now  so  safe  there  yawns  a  hell  that  is  swallow- 
ing up  their  sisters,  and  that  no  one  is  safe.  In 
thirty  years  the  writer  has  himself  seen  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  wealthy  sink  to  the 
lowest  economic  level  of  the  proletariat,  and  the 
foul  contagion  of  the  moral  rottenness  is  wafted 
to  the  homes  of  seemingly  sheltered  lives,  there 
to  breed  disease,  despair,  and  death. 


AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME  289 

The  subjects  that  must  be  considered  in  think- 
ing of  the  home  are  first  rents.  Why  are  rents 
so  high  with  land  so  plentiful,  materials  cheap, 
and  workingmen  seeking  work?  Secondly,  the 
whole  subject  of  transportation  has  direct 
bearing  on  the  city  home.  Men  and  women  are 
crowded  into  small  gloomy  tenements  because 
carfare  to  and  from  work  for  a  working  family 
of,  say,  three  adult  persons,  means  thirty  cents 
a  day,  or  one  dollar  and  eighty  cents  a  week,  as 
well  as  the  time  spent  going  to  and  fro.  This 
is  a  heavy  tax,  and  increases  the  monthly  rent 
of  rooms  away  from  the  city  by  seven  dollars 
and  twenty  cents.  It  is  a  serious  question 
whether  a  great  city  should  not  make  its  trans- 
portation as  free  as  its  sidewalks,  and  pay  for 
it  as  we  pay  for  our  sidewalks,  seeing  we  all  live 
by  the  labors  of  the  population  that  moves  to 
and  fro  on  the  street  cars.  Thirdly,  the  home 
suffers  fearfully  from  the  boys  and  girls  so  soon 
going  out  to  labor,  and  by  the  economic  claims 
upon  the  mother.  There  is,  alas!  often  no 
home-maker  left,  and  the  unattractiveness  of 
the  sleeping  place  becomes  a  consequent  neces- 
sity. Fourthly,  the  desperate  attempt  to  keep  up 
appearances  in  dress  leads  to  a  very  dispropor- 
tionate expenditure  on  finery  and  showy 
clothes.  And  yet  this  is  psychologically  easily 
explained.  The  dress  is  with  us  a  sign  of  eco- 
nomic ability ;  and  a  natural  ambition  to  appear 


290  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

at  one's  best  economically  is  further  greatly 
emphasized  by  the  fact  that  the  actual  wage  is 
heightened  by  good  appearance.  The  shop 
girl  must  "look  smart,"  and  a  nice  plainly 
dressed  girl  is  actually  at  an  economic  disad- 
vantage. She  starves  herself  for  a  new  frock, 
or  the  latest  whim  of  some  fashionable 
"modiste,"  which  she  can  secure  a  cheap  imi- 
tation of.  And  so  it  goes  all  the  way  up.  In 
the  desperate  race  to  keep  up  appearances  of 
economic  efficiency  the  home,  which  is  unseen, 
suffers  for  the  clothes  and  finery  which  are 
seen.  This  accounts  also  for  the  growing  in- 
hospitality  of  American  middle-class  life.  The 
home  is  not  on  a  par  with  the  dressing  and 
expenditure  on  things  visible  to  the  outside, 
hence  its  doors  are  largely  closed  to  outsiders 
that  the  disparity  may  not  be  observed.  The 
flashy  dressing  of  the  American  street  has  the 
same  cause.  Here  on  the  street  is  for  hundreds 
the  only  chance  to  display  economic  ability,  but 
the  same  thing  is  increasingly  true  of  London 
and  Berlin  and  all  industrial  centers. 

The  wealthy  dress  plainly  on  the  streets  be- 
cause they  can  display  their  jewels  and  silks  at 
the  opera,  at  balls,  in  theaters,  and  at  all  man- 
ner of  social  entertainments.  The  economically 
dependent  must  dress  for  the  street,  for  here 
alone  have  they  any  chance  to  see  and  be  seen. 
Hence  the  home  suffers,  and  far  up  into  the 


AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME  291 

highly  paid  labor  classes,  such  as  superintend- 
ents, teachers,  professors,  artists,  and  even 
doctors  and  lawyers.  If  it  be  asked,  "Why 
must  they  display  economic  ability?"  the 
answer  is  that  again  their  wage-earning  ca- 
pacity depends  in  a  good  degree  upon  their 
doing  so.  The  young  doctor  must  dress  his 
wife  well  if  he  is  going  to  be  called  "prosper- 
ous" and  "successful."  The  young  floor- 
walker must  make  a  brave  appearance  and  dress 
his  family  well  to  secure  the  respect  of  those 
who  employ  him  and  those  who  are  employed 
with  him.  The  home  these  do  not  see — there 
he  can  save  and  sacrifice;  the  wife  and  daugh- 
ters are  seen — there  he  cannot  save.  Thus  a 
pace  is  set  and  a  habit  of  economic  estimate  is 
formed  that  tends  to  increasing  extravagance 
and  waste.  Under  this  waste  the  home  suffers 
more  and  more,  and  is  increasingly  abandoned 
for  hotels,  boarding  houses,  and  cheaper  sub- 
stitutes. 

Mere  preaching  will  do  little  or  no  good. 
The  unreality  of  every  tirade  against  over- 
dressing is  felt  instinctively  by  all.  The  serv- 
ant tries  to  hide  her  economic  dependence  one 
day  in  the  week,  on  her  "night  out"  or  on  her 
"Sunday  out,"  by  dressing  as  nearly  like  her 
mistress  as  cheap  department  stores  will  enable 
her  to  do.  The  clerk  tries  to  look  like  the  son 
of  the  head  of  the  house  which  employs  him. 


292  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

As  our  estimate  of  status  is  on  the  basis  of 
economic  ability,  so  each  one  seeks  to  raise  his 
status  by  economic  display,  and  clothes  are  the 
rude  index  of  economic  efficiency. 

Fifthly,  the  home  suffers  from  the  domestic 
ignorance  of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  it. 
The  life  of  a  cash  girl  is  not  a  good  preparation 
for  making  a  home.  Some  rise  to  the  occasion, 
many  fail  utterly.  The  work  of  shop  and  mill 
unfits  womanhood  in  many  instances,  both 
physically  and  psychically,  for  motherhood. 
The  home  hopefully  begun  proves  through  ig- 
norance and  helplessness  an  impossible  place. 
And  before  experience  is  gained  the  marriage 
bond  of  love  and  confidence  has  been  fatally 
weakened. 

This  leads  to  the  sixth  great  danger  to  the 
home,  namely,  drink  and  drugs.  Far  more  men 
and  women  are  to-day  suffering  from  drink 
and  drugs  than  even  the  records  of  open  drunk- 
enness would  indicate.  Many  a  woman  has 
never  been  intoxicated,  but  is  almost  entirely 
dependent  upon  alcohol  or  drug  stimulation 
learned  in  drinking  patent  medicines.  And  the 
saloon  and  bar  need  no  more  than  mere  mention 
to  summon  up  before  us  ruined  homes  and 
blighted  hopes.  In  many  cases,  however,  a 
happy  home  would  have  prevented  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  barroom  ever  gaining  a  hold  upon 
the  young  life,  and  the  drug  habit  has  arisen 


AMELIORATION  AND  THE  HOME  293 

directly  out  of  the  misery  and  discomfort  that 
ignorance  of  home-making  has  caused. 

The  basis  of  any  proper  advance  toward  the 
social  conditions  of  the  kingdom  must  be  the 
home.  Here  is  a  wide  field  for  social  ameliora- 
tion. But  it  must  be  undertaken  intelligently, 
and  the  causes  must  be  sought  out  which  are  at 
work  driving  out  the  home.  The  decreasing 
American  family  will  not  be  enlarged  by 
preaching  or  scolding.  There  are  material  and 
spiritual  conditions  which  must  be  studied,  and 
when  we  know  what  are  the  conditions  under, 
which  the  family  is  thus  degenerating,  then  we 
may  be  in  a  position  intelligently  to  indicate 
the  lines  along  which  remedy  must  move. 

In  the  meantime,  even  reform  should  be  at- 
tempted carefully.  London  has  broken  up  large 
slum  areas,  but  the  people  that  lived  there  have 
found  the  new  houses  too  expensive,  because 
ground  rents  bear  so  little  of  the  burden  of 
English  taxation  compared  to  the  improve- 
ments. One  population  has  been  driven  out  to 
make  room  for  a  population  better  situated  eco- 
nomically. As  an  experimental  half  measure 
it  would  be  worth  while  to  try  taking  off  all 
taxation  on  low  and  medium  improvements  and 
putting  the  tax  upon  the  ground  rents.  This 
at  least  would  encourage  the  building  of 
small  homes,  and  would  take  some  of  the  un- 
earned increment  for  public  uses.  The  situa- 


294  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

tion  calls  for  communal  economic  reform. 
Cheap  "charity"  tenements  will  tend  only  to 
make  the  commercial  supply,  upon  which  at 
present  we  must  depend,  even  more  uncertain, 
and  increasing  the  commercial  risk  means  in- 
creasing average  rents. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION 

EDUCATION  is  a  broad  term.  Only  a  very 
small  part  of  it  is  done  in  schools.  It  never 
quite  stops,  for  life  is,  after  all,  the  great  edu- 
cator. At  the  same  time,  what  is  generally 
meant  by  education  is  organized  education. 
This  begins  at  school  and  goes  on  in  various 
ways  all  through  life.  To-day  extension  lec- 
tures, sermons  that  are  rather  lectures  than 
exhortations,  Chautauqua  circles,  classes  in 
settlements,  are  busy  as  never  before.  And 
happily  it  is  at  last  dawning  on  some  that  all 
punishment  that  attempts  to  revenge  injury 
is  immoral,  even  on  the  level  of  the  best  Old 
Testament  teaching,  let  alone  that  of  Christ; 
and  that  punishment  can  be  defended  only  as 
educational  reaction  to  protect  the  communal 
life  and  restore  an  antisocial  life  to  its  normal 
relations.  The  gross  absurdity  of  capital  pun- 
ishment in  an  ordered  community  on  this 
theory  appears  at  once.  One  cannot  educate  a 
man  by  hanging  him. 

One  may  conveniently  divide  education  as 
primary,  secondary,  college  and  university 
training,  supplementary  extension  training,  the 

295 


296  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

education  of  prisons  and  reformatories,  and  the 
education  that  is  unorganized,  or  only  partly  so, 
in  libraries  and  the  daily  and  other  periodical 
literature. 

Everywhere  there  is  room  for  a  thoughtful 
Christian  worker  to  do  something  for  better 
education  and  to  give  what  we  have  more 
definite  social  aim.  In  primary  education  the 
play  of  children  is  a  large  part.  Under  natural 
conditions  of  plenty  of  fresh  air,  grass,  and 
light  children  might  safely  be  left  to  educate 
themselves  in  games  and  romps  that  would  give 
physical  and  mental  vigor  in  the  most  natural 
way.  But,  unfortunately,  we  must  pay  heavy 
rents  to  the  owners  of  the  earth  for  sunshine, 
grass,  and  fresh  air,  so  that  for  the  mass  of 
city  children  substitutes  must  be  found.  More- 
over, such  are  the  cramped  conditions  of  city 
life  that  children  must  often  be  actually  taught 
to  laugh  and  play.  Nowhere  is  social  ameliora- 
tion more  in  place  than  in  attempting  to  over- 
come in  some  measure  the  handicap  of  economic 
disadvantage  and  in  the  caring  for  effective 
primary  education.  It  is  especially  important 
that  the  children  of  the  foreign  population  re- 
ceive particular  attention.  They  are  often  at  a 
great  disadvantage,  and  nothing  would  so 
threaten  our  democracy  as  a  "helot"  popula- 
tion of  aliens  who,  in  ignorance  of  our  life,  would 
become  the  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION         297 

water.  No  republic  can  exist  half  helot  and 
half  free.  The  eagerness  of  foreign  parents 
for  education  for  their  children  is  pathetic,  and 
it  is  not  creditable  to  us  that  this  work  is  often 
so  badly  done. 

At  this  point  those  who  interest  themselves 
particularly  in  primary  education  should  keep 
before  them  the  definite  aim  of  all  good  edu- 
cation— to  make  men  and  women  independent 
and  capable  of  thinking  through  their  own 
difficulties.  Such  education  should  take  in  life 
at  all  its  points — the  physical  life,  the  mental 
life,  and  the  spiritual  life.  This  last  must  be 
largely  the  work  of  the  home  and  the  religious 
organization,  and  it  is  very  important  that  such 
work  as  that  of  the  Religious  Education  Society 
receive  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  Chris- 
tian men  and  women.1 

But  at  the  same  time,  while  efficiency  is  the 
aim  of  education,  a  further  question  ought  to 
be  raised  which  seldom  is  considered,  namely, 
efficiency  for  what?  The  primary  education 
may  begin  with  the  selfish,  antisocial  attitude 
of  purely  individualistic  economic  efficiency,  or 
it  may  start  the  young  life  right  in  making  it 
efficient  for  social  service.  It  is  not  dogmatic 
teaching  that  is  needed  so  much  as  actual  organ- 
ization for  right  doing  and  kindly  service.  The 

'Compare  Journal,  published  bimonthly.  General  Secretary, 
Henry  F.  Cope,  72  East  Madison  Street,  Chicago. 


298  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

remarkable  thing  among  the  very  young  is  the 
high  affectionate  idealism  that  may  be  called 
out  and  given  direction  and  purpose. 

Miss  Jane  Addams  justly  complains  of  re- 
ligious teachers  of  all  kinds  that  they  are  failing 
to  enlist  the  young  in  high  ethical  and  social 
activity,  with  the  result  of  vacancy  in  the  young 
life  thirsting  vaguely  for  the  great,  the  noble, 
the  heroic.  The  wild  enthusiasm  of  the  young 
for  Lincoln  recently  evoked  was  not  based  upon 
any  profound  knowledge  of  Lincoln,  but  upon 
the  idealism  to  which  he  corresponded  as  pre- 
sented in  the  schools. 

Playgrounds,  parks,  and  free  spaces  should 
be  regarded  as  not  only  a  part  but  an  important 
part  of  the  communal  educational  machinery, 
and  many  places  would  do  well  to  have  trained 
instructors  and  nurses  to  guard  the  life  that  un- 
folds there.  From  a  merely  economic  point  of 
view  it  would  be  cheaper  than  the  reformatories 
and  hospitals  otherwise  needed. 

The  socially  thinking  Christian  must  also 
really  consider  as  never  before  whither  our  edu- 
cation in  the  secondary  schools  is  tending.  On 
the  one  hand,  industrial  training  may  be  in- 
terpreted simply  as  a  measure  to  increase  the 
powers  of  an  exploited  proletariat,  so  the  labor 
leaders  and  many  socialists  view  the  matter ;  or 
it  may  be  used  as  a  pedagogic  device  to  raise 
standards  of  self-help  and  autonomy.  Here  is 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION         299 

a  place  where  the  ideals  of  the  teacher  will 
largely  control  the  outcome.  And  it  is  im- 
portant that  we  steer  and  do  not  simply  drift. 
To  read,  write,  and  figure  are  not  sufficient  as 
an  equipment  for  the  boy  and  girl  going  out  to 
our  existing  hard  economic  battle  for  access  to 
the  highly  organized  and  priyaitel^  owned  in- 
C^striaJ^pppjtunitj:.  The  wrrter  hai^hnStnS 
more  than  one  young  man  going  out  into  life 
actually  hindered  in  his  struggle  for  economic 
success  by  the  training  in  a  secondary  school. 

The  cruel  alternative  is  also  often  forced 
upon  the  teacher  of  training  for  the  ideal 
life  at  the  risk  of  economic  failure,  or  training 
for  the  economic  success  the  world  praises  at 
the  risk  of  ideal  bankruptcy. 

The  Christian  thinker  ought  to  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  deciding  whether  to  train  the  young  for 
the  ideal  future  of  loving  service  or  for  a  selfish 
scramble  no  matter  how  successful  as  the  world 
speaks  of  success.  What  great  numbers  of  in- 
dustrial workers  who  are  relatively  inefficient 
need  is  an  ideal.  Nothing  carries  life  more 
easily  over  its  hard  places  than  high  purpose. 
Wesley  realized  keenly  and  shrewdly  that  the 
new  religious  enthusiasm  of  his  following  would 
result  in  economic  efficiency,  and  that  thrift 
would  bring  with  it  economic  success  with  all 
its  dangers.  If  the  teachers  in  our  schools  could 
fire  the  hearts  and  lives  of  boys  and  girls  with 


300  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

high  ideals  of  social  service  they  would  go  out 
into  life  armed  at  many  points  to  resist  its 
dangers  and  to  meet  its  needs. 

The  Sabbath  school  is  not  very  efficient  in  its 
definite  instruction,  but  much  more  might  be 
done  to  make  it  a  center  of  social  and  religious 
inspiration.  The  actual  impartation  of  instruc- 
tion is  often  amusingly  faulty.  Teachers  who 
really  know  little  about  the  Bible,  and  who  pick 
up  from  critical  or  uncritical  commentaries  or 
"lesson  leaves"  a  mass  of  misleading  informa- 
tion, cannot  impart  very  accurate  instruction 
to  restless  children  whom  they  see  irregularly 
half  an  hour  a  week.  At  the  same  time,  to 
undervalue  the  Sunday  school,  as  some  do,  is 
to  radically  misunderstand  its  deeper  function 
and  highest  mission.  It  can  be  made,  and  often 
is  made,  the  place  where  religious  and  social 
enthusiasm  lights  fires  that  are  never  again 
quenched.  Education  is  very  largely  a  question 
of  personal  contact,  and  personal  awakening 
and  directing  enthusiasm. 

For  this  reason  the  settlement  has  suddenly 
taken  a  large  and  very  important  place  in  the 
social  education  of  the  city  population.  The 
settlement  workers  are  the  ones  who  often 
profit  most.  They  learn  in  personal  contact 
things  not  written  in  the  books.  The  Christian 
social  thinker  is  of  necessity  interested  in  the 
settlement  and  its  future.  It  is  quite  impossible 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION        301 

to  justly  estimate  the  enormous  importance  for 
the  present  emergency  of  the  mediation  of  the 
settlement  in  the  economic  struggle.  At  a  time 
when  the  "class-conscious  struggle"  is  likely  to 
be  interpreted  by  both  friend  and  foe  as  a  doc- 
trine of  " class  hate,"  the  settlement  has  a  most 
important  function  in  interpreting  to  the  pos- 
sessing class  the  point  of  view  of  the  nonpos- 
sessing  class,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  reveal 
to  the  nonpossessing  class  the  inevitable  char- 
acter of  the  point  of  view  of  the  possessing 
class.  The  settlement  would  probably  make  as 
grave  a  mistake  as  the  church  would  if  it  com- 
mitted itself  without  reserve  to  any  political 
program.  The  formation  of  a  political  party, 
and  the  formulation  of  a  party  program,  had 
better  be  left  to  other  social  forces.  But  both 
church  and  settlement  have  an  almost  endless 
task  in  the  rousing  of  social  enthusiasm  and 
in  the  uncovering  of  social  facts. 

Professor  Sloane,  in  his  lectures  upon  "The 
French  Eevolution  and  Eeligious  Eeform,"  1 
points  out  how  much  of  the  insensate  violence 
of  the  French  Eevolution  was  due  to  the 
cowardice  and  apathy  of  the  higher  Eoman 
Catholic  clergy.  The  humbler  clergy  remained 
largely,  he  thinks,  true  to  their  flocks  and  duty; 
but  the  responsible  hierarchy  fled,  and  the  pos- 
sible mediation  they  might  have  undertaken 

1  Morse  Lectures,  1901. 


302  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

failed.  The  church  has  a  great  service  to 
render  in  a  proper  educational  mediation  be- 
tween contending  social  forces,  and  the  settle- 
ment is  one  means,  and  a  most  important  means, 
for  making  that  mediation  intelligent  and  sav- 
ing us  from  the  bane  of  most  ecclesiastical 
meddling,  namely,  sentimentalism  and  unin- 
structed  emotionalism. 

Christian  social  thinking  must  also  interest 
itself  in  one  of  the  great  extensions  of  our  edu- 
cational machinery,  namely,  the  lecture  and 
extension  class.  It  is  often  pathetic  to  see  the 
hunger  of  a  few  for  the  education  and  informa- 
tion many  have  vainly  forced  upon  them.  In 
connection  with  the  library  and  the  reading 
room  such  instruction  can  be  made  highly 
effective.  In  all  libraries  there  should  be  class- 
rooms and  a  lecture  hall  where  the  living  voice 
can  make  real  the  printed  page,  and  the  truly 
socially  thinking  Christian  will  stand  for  a  large 
liberty  in  both  choice  of  books  and  speaker. 
Truth  need  not  be  timid.  Persecution  and  the 
boycott  are  not  the  weapons  truth  has  ever 
found  most  effective.  The  noxious  bacteria  can 
stand  almost  everything  save  sunshine  and  light. 
What  truth  needs  is  air,  sunshine,  and  light. 
Feeble  timidity  is  always  trying  to  steady  the 
ark  of  God,  and  generally  then  gets  hit  by  his 
lightning.  Nor  need  anyone  be  discouraged 
unduly  by  the  great  preponderance  of  fiction 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION         303 

in  the  reading  of  the  many.  The  somewhat 
starved  and  stunted  life  of  all  of  us  needs 
awakening  on  the  side  of  feeling  and  imagi- 
nation. Darwin  was  a  devourer  of  novels,  and 
they  had  always  "to  come  out  right"  if  they 
were  to  meet  with  his  approval.  Even  "blood 
and  thunder"  has  its  uses  and  its  educational 
value.  Good  melodrama  is  extremely  fascinat- 
ing. When  at  its  highest  in  actual  history,  as 
when  Luther  stood  before  Charles  the  Fifth,  or 
in  the  Bible,  when  Elijah  stood  on  Mount 
Carmel,  the  situation  is  linked  directly  with  our 
highest  and  largest  moral  experience.  But  in 
point  of  fact  the  melodramatic  is  nearly  always 
joined  with  vice  punished  and  virtue  rewarded, 
whether  in  "Fidelio,"  by  Beethoven,  or  in  the 
"Betrayer  Eevenged,"  on  the  Bowery  stage; 
and  the  music  is  the  impassioned  yearning  of 
every  normal  heart  for  justice  and  right  doing. 

The  danger  of  emotional  excitement  is  that 
the  emotions  be  excited  only  for  the  sake  of  the 
thrill,  whereas  the  emotional  excitement  is  the 
normal  accompaniment  of  action,  and  without 
action  seems  to  distinctly  weaken  subsequent 
moral  reactions.  This  is  true  of  any  emotional 
excitement.  The  religious  awakening  that  does 
not  express  itself  at  once  in  good  works  is 
hardening  and  unwholesome. 

For  those  who  go  to  college  and  the  uni- 
versity the  social-thinking  Christian  has  also  a 


304  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

special  care.  The  dangers  that  beset  the  higher 
education  seem  inevitable  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances. The  intellectual  pharisaism,  the 
aristocratic  aloofness,  the  supercilious  attitude 
of  the  cultivated  man  to  life,  reflect  the  classic 
tradition,  with  its  exclusive  and  aristocratic 
spirit.  The  pagan  classics  are  still  the  founda- 
tion of  a  literary  culture,  and  either  they  are 
so  badly  taught  that  they  breed  the  immoral 
attitude  of  pretending  to  know  what  is  really 
an  unknown  world,  or  they  do  actually  form 
our  thinking  and  leave  us  vaguely  wondering 
what  our  alleged  Christian  teachers  think  of  it 
all.  There  should  be  distinct  pains  taken  by 
Christian  teachers  not  only  to  know  this  pagan 
world,  but  to  show  how  completely  different  its 
ideals  were  from  those  of  Jesus,  and  that  the 
pupil  must  choose.  That  we  cannot  serve  Jesus 
and  Plato,  and  that  Paul  and  Lucretius  are  not 
on  the  same  standing  ground,  should  be  care- 
fully pointed  out,  though  the  writer  confesses 
he  had  to  find  it  out  for  himself,  though  care- 
fully nurtured  in  a  Christian  college.  More- 
over, the  college  life  is  haunted  by  the  constant 
question,  Am  I  getting  ready  for  "success"  in 
the  competitive  scramble,  or  am  I  really  fitting 
myself  for  the  highest  social  service?  The  in- 
structors even  in  theological  schools  are 
plagued  by  the  same  insistent  question.  Are 
men  to  be  turned  out  to  please  congregations 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION         305 

and  make  * '  successes ' '  of  their  lives,  or  are  they 
willing  to  inaico  shipwreck  of  themselves  for  tlio 
kingdom's  sake?  It  is  quietly  assumed  that 
Jesus  and  Paul  must  be  our  models  in  all  but 
their  failures  and  the  fierce  antagonisms  which 
they  aroused.  In  Germany  the  more  technical 
studies  are  characteristically  called  the  "bread 
and  butter  studies. ' '  And  yet  for  the  Christian 
lawyer  or  doctor  or  scientist  there  is  no  "sec- 
ular life,"  no  pursuit  that  is  purely  a  matter 
of  bread  and  butter.  So  far  as  he  is  a  Christian 
his  life  is  one  of  service,  and  so  far  as  his  life 
is  one  of  redemptive  service  of  the  type  of  Jesus 
Christ's  life  he  is  Christian.  He  that  is  not 
against  us,  said  Jesus,  but  is  casting  out  devils, 
is  on  our  part.  The  ideal,  therefore,  for  college 
education  as  formulated  by  the  Christian  social 
thinker  is  efficiency  in  social  service  and  in- 
spiration to  engage  in  that  service.  And  it  is 
one  of  the  hopeful  signs  of  the  times  that  this 
ideal  is  making  great  progress  in  the  United 
States. 

The  unorganized  education  going  on  in  the 
daily  press,  the  weekly  paper,  and  the  period- 
ical journal  is  very  extensive.  Some  is  bad, 
some  very  bad,  some  is  good.  We  are  rightly 
afraid  of  any  official  censorship  of  the  press. 
Even  the  powers  of  the  post  office  are  excessive 
and  open  easily  to  abuse.  At  the  same  time, 
we  must  guard  the  immature,  and  the  socially 


306  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

thinking  man  or  woman  must  consider  the  effect 
on  youth  of  detailed  accounts  of  crime,  bru- 
tality, and  suicide.  How  the  news  could  be  left 
free,  and  the  all-important  liberty  of  the  press 
be  maintained,  or  rather  won  again,  is  an  im- 
portant question.  For  the  time  being  probably 
all  attempts  at  censorship  would  only  do  harm. 
It  would  not  be  the  immature  that  would  oc- 
cupy the  censor's  mind,  but  political  or  social 
opponents  whom  he  honestly  regarded  as 
"dangerous." 

Nor  should  we  forget  that  for  the  really 
socially  thinking  Christian  the  only  value  of 
"punishment,"  of  prisons,  and  of  reforma- 
tories is  to  protect  society  by  making,  if  pos- 
sible, the  unsocial  man  a  member  of  God's 
kingdom.  Having  nothing  to  do  with  revenge 
or  vengeance — in  fact,  seeing  that  in  God's 
family  these  things  can  have  no  place — the 
restoration  of  the  criminal  to  society  is  the  aim 
of  any  rational  "punishment."  From  the 
Christian  point  of  view  all  loveless  coercion  is 
essentially  immoral  and  degrading.  So  far, 
therefore,  as  discipline  is  unloving  it  works  as 
the  Christian  foresees  that  it  must  work — it 
simply  hardens  and  makes  more  vicious.  Hun- 
dreds of  prisoners  should  be  in  hospitals  or  in 
places  for  mental  disturbances;  another  large 
proportion  should  be  in  schools  and  places  of 
instruction ;  another  large  number  should  never 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION        307 

have  been  before  the  courts  at  all.     After  a/x 
Christianized  society  has  eliminated  the  eco- 
nomic  causes   that   now    confessedly   produce 
most  of  the  crime,  the  hospitals  and  schools 
will  probably  take  care  of  all  the  rest. 

For  the  socially  thinking  Christian  all  insti- 
tutions of  training  have,  therefore,  as  their 
goal  the  fitting  of  men  for  the  life  of  coopera- 
tive service  in  the  moralized  kingdom  of  divine 
ends  and  purposes.  It  goes,  therefore,  with- 
out saying  that  all  educational  process,  whether 
the  organized  education  of  school  and  institu- 
tion or  the  unorganized  education  of  adver- 
tising billboards  or  the  sights  of  the  street, 
have  the  deepest  interest  for  the  intelligent 
Christian.  We  and  our  children  are  being 
trained  by  the  thousand  and  one  impressions 
made  upon  us  daily  and  hourly.  "What  are 
some  of  these  impressions  ?  It  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  that  a  child  grow  up  with  a  sense 
of  order,  of  beauty,  of  peace  and  dignity,  and 
also  of  interest  in  life  and  motion.  The  home 
supplies  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  funda- 
mentally formative  impressions  that  go  to  make 
up  a  child's  life,  or  even  an  adult's  life.  It  is 
not  a  matter  of  indifference,  therefore,  that  with 
wearisome  and  sickening  frequency  we  be  in- 
vited to  consume  alcohol  prepared  as  a  patent 
medicine  or  to  ruin  our  health  with  various 
articles  of  .diet  prepared  with  embalming  fluid. 


308  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Even  if  we  be  wise  enough  to  leave  advertised 
things  as  much  as  possible  alone,  we  are  haunted 
and  annoyed  at  every  step  by  the  flaunted  com- 
mercialism that  is  ruining  our  countryside  as 
it  has  permanently  disfigured  Niagara  Falls. 
Our  education  goes  on,  therefore,  as  our  action 
and  reaction  upon  our  surroundings,  and  it  is 
of  primary  importance  in  all  education  that 
order,  beauty,  freedom,  and  grace  play  upon 
our  lives  through  the  medium  of  the  sense  of 
perception. 

The  services  in  our  churches,  and  the  very 
lines  of  our  architecture,  have  significance  for 
anyone  who  is  slowly  training  himself  to  think 
in  the  language  of  the  coming  kingdom  of  God. 
We  are  still  in  bonds  to  the  beautiful,  paternal, 
authoritative  Middle  Ages.  We  build  Gothic 
structures  that  reflect  inadequately  the  mystery 
and  awe  of  the  forest  and  shadow  forth  its 
bending  trees  and  dark  cool  spaces;  then  we 
light  them  with  electricity  and  paint  them  with 
bright,  gorgeous  colors,  and  adorn  them  with 
massive  golden  pipe  organs,  and  try  to  use 
these  poor,  weak  monstrosities  for  auditoriums. 
The  many  buildings  that  must  yet  be  built  will 
educate  to  larger  communal  life,  and  will  be 
built  by  men  caught  by  the  enthusiasm  for  the 
new  Christian  society,  and  with  the  artistic 
genius  to  really  voice  our  highest  yearnings 
and  guide  our  aspirations.  One  sees  already 


SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  EDUCATION         309 

in  the  public  school  buildings  of  our  larger 
cities  how  the  real  adaptation  to  actual  life  and 
wants  is  giving  us  noble  form.  The  communal 
democratic  socially  thinking  Church  will  yet 
build  real  churches  more  really  beautiful  than 
even  the  mediaeval  Gothic  structures  which 
voiced  so  well  an  earlier  stage  of  religious 
feeling. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  THE  WORKSHOP 

THE  Christian  man  or  woman,  who  has 
learned  to  really  long  for  the  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth,  looks  out  on  the  whole  labor  situation 
with  new  interest  and  more  humble  desire  to 
actually  understand.  The  first  stage  is  gener- 
ally one  of  great  enthusiasm  for  organized 
labor,  and  a  general  feeling  that  in  all  labor 
disputes  the  workingmen  are  always  right  and 
the  owners  of  the  producing  machinery  and  in- 
dustrial opportunity  always  selfish  and  wrong. 
Then  there  is  very  generally  a  reaction.  The 
narrow  outlook  and  selfish  shortsightedness  of 
some  labor  organization  pricks  the  sentimental 
bubble,  and  the  sincere  Christian  dreamer  feels 
cheated  and  disappointed.  In  the  disputes  be- 
tween the  employing  class  and  the  employed 
class  the  issue  is  seldom  a  clear  and  definite 
one  with  right  wholly  on  one  side  and  wrong 
wholly  on  the  other.  Under  our  existing  legal 
order  the  owners  of  the  productive  machinery 
and  the  industrial  opportunity  feel  that  they 
have  a  right  to  do  what  they  will  with  their 
own.  And  they  have  in  most  cases  a  plain 
legal  case  for  their  point  of  view.  Under  our 

310 


THE  WORKSHOP  311 

existing  legal  scheme  there  can  be  no  adjust- 
ment with  any  accuracy  between  the  social 
values  and  the  individual  values.  Where  legal 
franchises  are  in  question  the  companies  oper- 
ating them  are  being  forced  to  recognize  the 
social  character  of  their  responsibility,  and  yet 
even  here  the  interference  of  the  community 
in  the  workings  of  these  franchise-holding  cor- 
porations has,  in  the  judgment  of  many  compe- 
tent and  socially  awakened  men,  been  unfor- 
tunate and  inequitable.  The  right  of  the 
community  to  interfere  in  the  Great  Northern 
merger  case  is  now  probably  undisputed.  And 
perhaps  it  was  worth  something  to  emphatically 
assert  that  right.  But  the  wisdom  of  the  inter- 
ference is  a  very  different  matter  and  is  open 
to  very  serious  question.  Under  our  existing 
legal  order  nearly  all  isolated  communal  inter- 
ference in  private  corporations  works  a  dis- 
tinct measure  of  injustice. 

In  the  same  way  the  private  owner  of  the 
industrial  opportunity  feels  a  natural  resent- 
ment when  this  undoubted  legal  right  is  chal- 
lenged by  organized  labor,  and  particularly 
when  it  is  challenged  by  illegal  violence  and 
abuse.  In  the  competition  for  the  exclusive 
ownership  of  the  social  machinery  and  the  in- 
dustrial opportunity  the  present  owners  or 
their  ancestors  won  the  fight  and  gained  the 
position  of  mastery.  They  often  rendered  great 


312  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

social  service  in  the  organizing  of  the  industrial 
machinery.  Even  the  worst  abuses  of  the  com- 
petitive battle,  like  land  speculation,  wheat 
corners,  stock  gambling,  etc.,  have  in  them  ele- 
ments of  justification  on  our  existing  basis. 
Land  speculation  has  turned  men  to  systematic 
exploitation  of  site  values ;  wheat  corners  have 
given  farmers  great  temporary  profits  for  their 
grain;  stock  gambling  furnishes  an  index  to 
and  a  market  for  certain  legal  values  exceed- 
ingly convenient — perhaps,  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances, indispensable.  As  long  as  society 
admits  that  these  opportunities  should  be 
privately  owned,  and  as  long  as  the  legal  right 
to  them  is  not  properly  challenged,  so  long 
spasmodic  and  often  hysterical  communal  in- 
terference at  this  or  that  point  works  hard- 
ship and  is  generally  even  socially  unde- 
sirable. 

When  it  is  urged  that  franchises  were  cor- 
ruptly gained,  or  that  land,  as  in  England,  was 
stolen  by  act  of  Parliament,  then  the  reply  is 
that  the  remedy  is  to  attack  the  corruption.  If 
that  was  not  done,  or  cannot  now  be  success- 
fully done,  the  prima  facie  evidence  is  that  the 
ownership  is  in  good  faith.  Under  our  system 
there  are  always  hundreds  of  holders  of  securi- 
ties who  bought  them  in  good  faith,  who  had 
nothing  to  do  with  any  corruption  charged,  and 
whose  injury  would  be  a  social  calamity.  The 


THE  WORKSHOP  313 

world  is  a  great  workshop.  This  workshop  is 
working  under  a  distinct  competitive  system 
that  has  slowly  grown  up,  not  as  the  result  of 
a  "criminal  conspiracy  of  the  rich,"  or  as  the 
outcome  of  "the  selfishness  of  a  class,"  but 
as  the  answer  to  human  needs,  and  in  response 
to  what  the  great  mass  of  men  thought  right 
and  just.  Organized  labor  must  consider  two 
main  questions :  First,  are  the  rules  being  kept? 
If  they  are  not,  then  illegal  violence  is  not  the 
best  way  to  enforce  their  keeping.  Secondly, 
are  the  rules  and  conditions  just  and  perma- 
nent? 

One  of  the  main  charges  that  may  be  urged 
against  organized  labor  is  that  it  has  shared 
the  unideal,  selfish,  scramble  spirit  that  is  so 
much  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  all  live.  It 
enters  into  the  battle  for  a  share  in  a  common 
booty.  It  is  willing  to  use  the  weapons  of  the 
economic  struggle,  and  is  surprised  when  it  is 
beaten  by  those  who  have  the  advantage  of 
possession,  of  mastery  over  the  legal  system, 
and  the  use  of  the  most  highly  trained  capacity 
money  can  buy.  The  Christian  man  or  woman 
finds  it  hard  to  give  to  either  side  in  the  com- 
petitive struggle  for  profits  and  wage  an  un- 
divided sympathy.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the 
organized  church  has  often  been  conspicuously 
seen  supporting  the  possessing  class,  but  it 
would  have  been  almost  equally  unfortunate  if 


314  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  organized  church  had  committed  herself  un- 
reservedly to  organized  labor.  The  Christian 
socially  thinking  man  cannot  compromise  with 
his  ideal  of  a  kingdom  of  loving  service,  and 
he  knows  that  shorter  hours  and  higher  wages 
won  in  a  battle  with  the  strike  and  the  boycott 
as  its  weapon  cannot  give  us  that  kingdom. 
He  cannot  condemn  these  weapons  and  leave 
hunger  and  homelessness,  misery  and  idleness, 
uncondemned,  which  are  the  weapons  by  which 
a  possessing  class  fights  the  strike  and  the  boy- 
cott. Both  parties  to  the  unequal  and  depress- 
ing struggle  need  social  awakening.  The 
socially  awakened  man  feels  the  need  of  red- 
cross  work,  he  longs  for  just  arbitration,  but 
knows  perfectly  well  that  under  competitive 
conditions  the  wage  scale  and  the  conditions  of 
work  are  not  in  the  absolute  control  of  the  em- 
ployer. He  must  meet  competition  with  com- 
petition. He  cannot  give  more  than  -his  fellow 
employers  give  save  under  some  exceptional 
conditions  and  in  the  long  run  survive  in  the 
struggle. 

Almost  all  the  Christian  man  can  ask  the 
present  employer  is  for  him  to  support  laws 
that  will  enforce  on  all  manufacturers  more 
equitable  conditions.  If  it  is  profitable  to 
employ  little  children  in  mines  and  mills  the 
most  greedy  employer  sets  the  pace ;  the  others 
must  follow,  however  unwillingly,  or  give  up 


THE  WORKSHOP  315 

their  business.  Laws,  therefore,  that  compel 
even  the  most  greedy  to  carry  on  their  industry 
under  more  humane  conditions  should  have  the 
support  of  all  really  kind-hearted  employers, 
in  their  own  protection.  In  looking  over  the 
history  of  labor  legislation  in  England  and  the 
United  States  it  is  discouraging  to  see  how  vio- 
lent has  been  the  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
owners  of  the  industrial  machinery  to  even  the 
most  obviously  just  laws  restricting  the  right 
to  employ  under  unsocial  conditions.  Even  for 
those  who  are  earnestly  in  favor  of  the  existing 
competitive  system,  and  think  it  can  be  worked 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount — in- 
deed, particularly  for  such — it  is  a  matter  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  show  that  stunted 
childhood,  abused  motherhood,  and  unhealthy 
hovels  are  not  essential  evils  of  our  social 
order.  To  demonstrate  that  the  existing  social 
order  can  be  worked  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  the 
Christian  socially  awakened  man  must  see  to 
it  that  the  laws  protect  the  right  thinking  em- 
ployer, and  do  not  expose  him  to  ruinous  com- 
petition on  the  part  of  greedy  and  exploiting 
employers. 

The  great  majority  of  men,  whether  pro- 
fessedly Christian  or  not,  still  believe  that  only 
the  hope  of  profits  can  keep  the  organization 
of  society  running  at  full  speed,  and  that  if  the 
incentive  of  mastery  over  the  productive  forces 


316  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

were  taken  away  genius  would  not  function, 
and  ability  would  stop  working.  To  the  con- 
vinced socialist  this  seems  untrue,  and  to  the 
Christian  heart  there  certainly  comes  the 
thought  that  Jesus,  Paul,  Augustine,  Luther, 
John  Wesley,  Shaftesbury,  and  Lincoln  did 
not  give  the  world  their  lives  for  the  sake  of 
profits,  and  that  simply  the  motive  of  service 
would  be  enough  in  a  truly  Christian  state. 
At  the  same  time,  for  those  who  still  think 
wages  can  be  fixed  only  by  competition,  it  is 
important  that  the  wage  system  be  cleared  of 
scandals  no  one  defends.  Industrial  woman- 
hood is  in  sad  need  of  protection.  Christian 
employers  who  know  the  facts  must  lead  in  the 
work  of  freeing  the  competitive  system  of  the 
wrongs  it  is  now  working.  That  women  of 
relatively  tender  years  should  be  even  now  and 
then  at  the  mercy  of  an  intrusive  floorwalker 
or  superintendent  calls  for  adequate  remedy. 
Granting,  as  one  may,  that  the  abuse  of  this 
power  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule,  the 
abuse  is  sufficiently  possible  and  occurs  often 
enough  to  make  any  Christian  employer  very 
watchful  for  the  souls  of  the  girls  who  are  put 
by  the  competitive  system  at  very  low  wages 
into  his  charge.  Such  work,  therefore,  as  is 
done  by  the  Consumers '  League,  and  by  bodies 
of  women  who  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
lives  of  the  growing  number  who  must  learn 


THE  WORKSHOP  317 

the  meaning  of  "the  long  day,'*  should  have 
the  support  of  the  socially  awakened  con- 
science. 

For  this  reason  also  organizations  of  women 
workers  should  be  protected  and  encouraged. 
The  patience  of  the  employer  may  be  severely 
tried  by  what  seem  to  him  to  be  unreasonable 
whims  and  petty  difficulties.  But  the  only  real 
remedy  of  lasting  value  is  the  education  of 
responsible  organizations.  And  many  of  the 
things  that  seem  to  the  employer  petty  mean  a 
great  deal  in  the  necessarily  narrow  lives  of 
most  of  the  employed  women.  The  group 
spirit  is  responsible  for  evil  and  good,  but  in 
the  long  run  the  group  spirit  is  the  moralizing 
spirit.  The  employer  is  also  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  group  spirit,  and  contributes  for 
lockouts  and  to  bear  the  expense  of  the  legis- 
lative lobby  because  he  does  not  want  to 
"offend  his  fellow  manufacturers,"  although 
he  really  at  bottom  may  disapprove  of  the 
lockout  and  hate  the  buying  of  legislation.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  group  spirit  everywhere; 
it  has  its  darker  side,  but  loyalty  to  the  group 
is  a  tremendously  moralizing  and  elevating 
force,  and  it  is  naturally  much  weaker  in  women 
than  in  men.  Hence  the  exploitation  of  unor- 
ganized women  demands  the  most  patient  deal- 
ing with  their  education  in  organization,  and 
the  Christian  employer  has  his  distinct  duty  to 


318  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

his  "sisters  and  daughters  in  Christ  Jesus " 
who  are  also  his  employees. 

The  tone  generally  taken,  of  course,  is  that 
of  battle.  We  hear  true  tales  of  ingratitude, 
folly,  and  wrongs  on  both  sides.  At  the  same 
time,  the  socially  thinking  Christian  employer 
is  not  working  for  man's  gratitude,  not  to 
please  men,  but  to  serve  and  advance  the  king- 
dom of  God's  redemptive  loving  purpose.  He 
cannot  remain  Christian  and  think  in  the  terms 
of  battle  and  contest  with  his  employees.  They 
are  his  fellow  workers,  to  be  won  to  the  king- 
dom purpose  as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  him 
to  win  them,  but  even  when  they  are  not  so  won 
his  purpose  must  remain  unshaken.  The  at- 
titude of  Eobert  Owen  puts  us  to  shame  when 
we  consider  that  he  lived  so  wholly  for  the 
loving  service  of  his  fellow  men,  but  was  almost 
forced  into  repudiation  of  Christianity  because 
of  its  opposition  to  his  dream  of  loving  justice. 

The  early  Christian  socialists,  so  called,  ad- 
vocated, as  we  have  seen,  "cooperation,"  and 
tried  to  start  cooperative  shops  and  cooperative 
factories.  The  movement  has  now  become  a 
part  of  English  life,  but  it  has  not  kept  its 
idealism.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see  how  this  would 
have  been  possible  in  the  midst  of  a  com- 
petitive society.  To  a  large  degree  they  have 
become  useful  adjuncts  to  the  existing  system, 
but  they  are  compelled  to  compete  as  organiza- 


THE  WORKSHOP  319 

tions  on  the  same  terms  with  all  other  in- 
corporated companies,  and  have  the  same  in- 
terest in  buying  in  the  cheapest  and  selling  in 
the  dearest  market,  with  profits  in  view,  al- 
though the  profits  go  to  the  whole  cooperative 
stock  company  instead  of  to  the  owning  few. 
At  the  same  time,  cooperation  has  a  future 
in  America.  Bread,  staple  articles  of  diet,  and 
clothing  might  be  both  manufactured  and  dis- 
tributed by  organized  cooperation  as  in  Bel- 
gium and  England.  There  are  socially  minded 
men  and  women  who  do  not  see  their  way 
clearly  to  any  larger  social  program  who  might 
greatly  aid  a  large  number  by  unselfish  service 
in  the  interest  of  cooperative  distribution. 
Coal,  oil,  wood,  and  shoes  could  be  sold  of  a 
much  better  quality  for  far  less  money  than 
the  little  shop  can  afford  to  give  them.  Co- 
operation has  the  disadvantage  of  inflicting 
hardship  upon  numerous  small  but  very  waste- 
ful middlemen,  who  are  driven  out  of  business 
by  successful  cooperation  and  who  therefore 
feel  bitterly  about  it.  It  is  particularly  hard 
upon  the  little  shop  that  is  a  mere  assistance 
to  the  head  bread-winner  and  gives  employ- 
ment to  wife  and  daughters.  In  England  the 
"bad  accounts"  go  to  these  little  shops, 
whereas  cooperation  insists  very  sternly  upon 
cash  payment.  The  result  is  that  with  high 
rents  and  bad  accounts  the  small  shops  near 


320  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

cooperative  stores  have  a  hard  time,  and  must 
charge  highly  for  the  credit  they  give  as  the 
only  advantage  they  have  over  the  cash  co- 
operation. 

Nor  must  one  overlook  the  experience  in 
England,  where  the  competition  of  the  coopera- 
tive store  had  to  meet  skilled  and  trained  dis- 
tributing machinery.  The  successful  stock 
company  is  the  survivor  in  a  long  battle.  The 
weaker  companies  it  has  absorbed  or  forced  to 
the  wall.  Any  successful  cooperation  must  face 
its  possible  failures  in  competition  with  trained 
and  successful  survivors  in  the  commercial 
battle.  Neither  the  unselfish  enthusiasm  nor 
the  self-sacrifice  of  the  early  cooperation 
leaders  saved  them  from  dreary  commercial 
errors  which  their  trained  opponents  would 
never  have  made.  More  particularly  in  pro- 
duction were  these  experiments  found  most 
costly  and  generally  fatal.  Before,  therefore, 
social  enthusiasm  begins  any  cooperative  plans 
on  a  large  scale  it  would  be  well  to  study 
thoroughly  the  English  literature  on  the 
subject.1 

Moreover,  cooperation  can  do  little  save 
operate  with  the  wage  scale  set  by  competitive 
business  outside,  and  the  danger  is  that  in 
seeking  profits  for  the  cooperators  all  the 

i  Consult  Bibliography,  and  see  also  the  article  in  Bliss's  "  Ency- 
clopedia of  Social  Reform." 


THE  WORKSHOP  321 

evils  of  the  competitive  system,  child  labor, 
sweating,  employment  of  women,  over  hours, 
etc.,  must  be  resorted  to.  Like  some  forms 
of  charity,  its  main  use  is  probably  to  edu- 
cate men  and  women  socially,  and  force  upon 
all  the  need  of  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  situation,  and  the  helplessness  of  the  in- 
dividual in  a  competitive  struggle  for  the 
private  ownership  of  the  industrial  opportu- 
nity. Thus  the  Eochdale  cooperative  stores  set 
apart  large  sums  for  "education"  and  propa- 
ganda, and  this  literature  nearly  always  deals 
with  the  moral  issues  involved  in  mutual  aid 
as  over  against  the  competitive  struggle.  It 
would,  in  the  writer's  judgment,  be  often  a 
distinct  advantage  if  trades  unions  were  to  en- 
gage in  cooperation  not  only  for  the  sake  of 
the  cheaper  and  better  goods,  but  also  for  the 
sake  of  the  increased  sense  of  solidarity,  and 
the  experience  that  would  be  gained  of  large 
commercial  operations,  as  well  as  for  the  sake 
of  the  constant  emphasis  placed  upon  cash 
payments. 


CHAPTER  XXVHI 
SOCIAL  THINKING  AND  ADMITTED  SOCIAL.  EVILS 

IP  our  interpretation  of  Jesus  is  correct  his 
only  social  program  was  the  extension  to  the 
whole  of  life  of  the  loving  relations  that  or- 
ganize the  ideal  family  group.  From  this  point 
of  view  anything,  we  repeat,  that  threatens 
the  family  group  must  seem  fundamentally  anti- 
social. The  conservation  of  the  family  as  the 
source  of  every  virtue  that  is  needed  for  the 
larger  social  group  seems  all-important.  Hence 
what  is  generally  known  as  the  social  evil  must 
be  viewed  with  peculiar  dismay.  Yet  Jesus 
treated  the  outcast  woman  with  special  tender- 
ness. He  recognized  more  clearly  than  his  fol- 
lowers always  have  that  she  is  the  victim 
sinned  against  as  well  as  sinning  against  so- 
ciety. Only  the  fearful  economic  pressure 
would  drive  more  than  a  very  few  exceedingly 
superficial  natures  to  the  dreadful  dangers  and 
humiliations  of  a  life  of  shame.  For  this 
reason  the  work  of  rescue  is  neither  so  hope- 
less nor  so  difficult  as  it  has  often  been  repre- 
sented, and  it  is  unpardonable  that  the  or- 
ganized Christian  Church  has  done  so  little 
along  these  lines.  Here  if  anywhere  individual 

322 


ADMITTED  SOCIAL  EVILS  323 

rescue  work  is  called  for  without  waiting  for 
larger  economic  changes,  which  cannot  do  more 
than  save  future  generations.  The  present  is, 
however,  also  our  care. 

This  work  must  be  undertaken  mainly  by 
tender-hearted  and  experienced  Christian 
women,  and  to  them  also  must  be  intrusted  in 
large  measure  the  preventive  measures  needed 
for  reducing  the  number  of  tempted  girls  and 
betrayed  women.  Of  course,  shallow,  vain 
natures,  with  exorbitant  love  of  ease  and  dress 
and  excitement,  form  a  proportion  of  this  sad 
procession,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  ignorance, 
helplessness,  and  fear  are  constantly  keeping 
their  thousands  in  bondage  where  Christian 
love  could  procure  for  them  freedom  and  hope. 

Fiercely  degrading  is  all  quasi-municipal 
recognition  by  license  and  inspection.  It  is  ut- 
terly hopeless  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view, 
and  only  inspires  with  false  confidence.  It  is 
in  the  last  degree  degrading  both  for  the 
women  and  the  inspectors,  and  does  not  keep 
the  police  out  of  the  corruption  generally  in- 
volved in  this  form  of  vice.  And  it  makes  any 
return  to  honest  life  exceedingly  difficult.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  Anglo-American  civilization 
will  never  blunder  into  the  shames  and  disasters 
that  have  marked  the  continental  experiences  in 
many  cities  where  inspection  and  license  have 
been  most  thoroughly  tried  out,  with  an  ap- 


324  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

paratus  for  this  purpose  far  superior  to  any- 
thing we  possess. 

The  socially  thinking  Christian  must  seek 
also  to  bring  the  whole  question  of  divorce 
under  some  larger  vision  than  simply  viewing  it 
as  a  personal  crime.  The  Roman  Catholic  com- 
munion surely  strains  at  a  gnat  and  swallows 
a  camel  when  it  practically  prefers  wholesale 
concubinage  to  divorce.  What  is  breaking  up 
the  American  home?  That  question  goes  very 
deep  down  into  our  social  organization.  As  we 
have  seen,  hotels,  flats,  boarding  houses,  com- 
petitive dressing,  purposely  childless  mar- 
riages, wrong  ideals  of  life,  have  deep-lying 
economic  causes,  and  unless  these  are  studied 
and  taken  into  account  and  our  divorce  laws 
made  and  enforced  with  reference  to  these  con- 
ditions, they  will  simply  work  deeper  and  worse 
confusion.  When  we  have  even  approximately 
gained  the  ethical  and  economic  conditions  of 
the  kingdom  many  of  our  most  serious  diffi- 
culties will  disappear.  Merely  stopping  di- 
vorces without  stopping  the  underlying  evils 
from  which  divorces  spring  might  only  increase 
immorality,  and  tend  to  deeper  disintegration 
of  the  family  and  the  home.  Men  and  women 
must  be  made  to  feel  the  full  significance  of  the 
sacrificial  life,  and  when  the  marriage  bond  is 
rightly  regarded  in  its  social  setting  it  will  not 
be  so  lightly  broken. 


ADMITTED  SOCIAL  EVILS  325 

At  this  point  the  individualism  of  American 
life,  and  the  more  or  less  distinct  feeling  that 
every  man  liveth  to  himself  and  has  only  his 
highest  duty  to  himself,  works  injury  and  leads 
to  disappointment;  for  the  man  who  starts 
out  to  live  for  his  own  pleasure  never  gets  it. 
Happiness  is  really  a  by-product  of  life's  ac- 
tivity, and  when  it  is  made  an  end  is  generally 
lost.  The  socially  thinking  Christian  must  often 
shudder  at  the  tone  of  press  and  society 
toward  the  young  girl  who  makes  "a  good 
match, ' '  that  is,  one  that  is  economically  favor- 
able, careless  of  whether  the  partnership  is 
really  a  spiritual  and  intellectual  match.  The 
unevenly  yoked  with  unbelievers  are  a  large 
company.  And  it  is  not  always  the  individual's 
fault.  The  commercial  basis  of  the  ordinary 
modern  marriage  is  not  a  firm  foundation  on 
which  to  build  a  spiritual  temple. 

The  guardianship  of  the  family  means  also 
the  guardianship  of  the  immature.  The  regu- 
lation of  literature  and  advertisements  comes 
under  this  head.  No  country  has  gone  quite  so 
far,  perhaps,  as  the  United  States  in  attempts 
to  abolish  the  sale  and  distribution  of  corrupt- 
ing literature,  nor  has  the  enforcement  of  the 
laws  always  been,  perhaps,  as  judicious  as  one 
could  wish.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  so  im- 
portant to  avoid  the  premature  awakening  of 
the  appetites  in  the  young  that  a  great  deal  can 


326  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

be  forgiven  to  overzeal.  The  question,  how- 
ever, must  arise  whether  the  censorship  is  ef- 
fective and  how  far  it  is  open  to  future  abuse. 
Certainly  more  might  be  done  by  public  taste 
and  educated  feeling  toward  the  suppression 
or  discouragement  of  offensive  novels  and  plays. 
Without  legal  means,  by  the  exercise  of  persua- 
sion and  the  weight  of  public  opinion,  something 
ought  to  be  accomplished.  It  is  hard  to  draw 
legal  lines.  The  obnoxious  cannot  always  be 
defined.  The  most  foully  suggestive  things  may 
wear  the  robe  of  seeming  decency.  All  violent 
crime,  all  patent  brutality,  all  evident  appeal  to 
low  passion  is  strongly  suggestive  to  certain 
minds,  and  suggestion  that  may  sooner  or  later 
express  itself  in  action.  Appeals  in  carefully 
and  gently  worded  letters  to  theater  man- 
agers and  advertising  agents  are  not,  as  the 
writer  knows,  always  in  vain.  Those  who  con- 
duct such  amusements  are  there  to  make  profits, 
but  they  are  our  fellow  citizens,  with  their  own 
standards  of  right  and  wrong,  and  generally 
ready  to  at  least  listen  to  what  we  have  to  say. 
Such  pressure  might  do  much  to  purify  and 
cleanse  the  exceedingly  offensive  stage  pro- 
ductions if  it  were  properly  organized  and  it 
were  recognized  as  reasonable  and  considerate 
even  without  laws  whose  application  would  al- 
ways be  difficult  and  sometimes  ineffective  and 
unjust  in  their  working. 


ADMITTED  SOCIAL  EVILS  327 

The  Puritan  attitude  toward  all  amusement 
has  all  too  often  left  an  untrained  childhood  to 
seek  out  its  recreations  without  any  guidance, 
and  the  result  in  our  greater  cities  has  been  in 
the  last  degree  unfortunate.  The  dangers  to 
the  youth  of  both  sexes  as  the  city  opens  its 
doors  to  streams  of  young  men  and  women 
from  the  country  are  simply  appalling.  The 
socially  minded  Christian  in  the  small  place  or 
the  large  one  has  along  this  whole  line  a  great 
responsibility,  and  one  of  the  most  delicate 
character.  The  positive  side  must  be  empha- 
sized rather  than  the  negative.  Life  must  be  so 
filled  with  nobler  and  higher  enthusiasms  that 
the  ignoble,  low,  and  base  will  find  no  room. 

To  a  certain  extent  the  same  is  true  on  the 
subject  of  temperance.  The  socially  minded 
Christian  wishes  the  destruction  of  the  saloon 
because  everyone  had  at  last  recognized  its 
danger  and  had  found  a  better  place.  But  as  the 
saloon  evil  is  with  us,  and  is  a  menace  to  imma- 
turity and  to  men  of  weak  will,  its  regulation  or 
prohibition  has  become  a  social  necessity.  The 
question  is,  What  is  possible?  The  temperance 
question  has  suffered  by  being  confused  with 
questions  of  legal  expediency.  Temperance 
is  mandatory  upon  every  Christian  conscience. 
But  when  the  issue  is  forcing  our  conscience 
upon  others  we  are  face  to  face  with  issues 
of  social  expedience  and  loving  wisdom.  The 


328  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

evils  of  hypocrisy  and  of  secret  drinking, 
of  winked-at  lawlessness  and  of  unjustified  in- 
terference with  another  man's  liberty,  are  evils 
so  great  as  to  give  us  from  time  to  time  pause, 
and  compel  us  in  each  locality  to  ask,  What  is 
here  the  utmost  we  can  demand  and  have  the 
honest  support  of  right-thinking  men? 

Certainly  local  option  is  a  good  democratic 
device,  and  when  the  unit  is  small  the  law 
stands  a  good  chance  of  enforcement  when 
public  opinion  is  behind  the  law. 

There  are  two  types  of  drunkenness.  The 
one  is  born  of  old  social  custom.  In  older  days 
a  narrow  life,  a  lack  of  vital  interest,  seems  to 
have  led  men  to  carouse,  and  from  such  excesses 
grew  in  hundreds  of  cases  the  nerve  hunger 
which  carried  the  finest  intellects  to  drunken 
graves.  This  type  of  drinking  is  steadily  on  the 
decrease.  Few  men  of  any  position  or  standing 
in  the  community  would  care  to  have  it  said 
of  them  that  they  even  occasionally  got  intoxi- 
cated. Social  drunkenness  is  steadily  on  the 
decline. 

But,  unfortunately,  another  and  just  as 
deadly  a  drinking  is  taking  its  place.  It  may 
be  called  industrial  drunkenness.  The  tired 
workingmen,  the  hard-driven  young  brokers, 
the  overstrained  business  men,  the  worn-out  in- 
dustrial women  drink,  not  for  social  purposes, 
but  to  "keep  up."  And  this  drinking  is  even 


ADMITTED  SOCIAL  EVILS  329 

more  certainly  ruinous  than  social  drinking. 
Those  who  drink  just  to  keep  up  soon  drink 
steadily  and  increasingly.  They  may  never  get 
drunk,  but  many  never  get  at  any  time  quite 
sober.  Such  drinking  is  generally  of  concen- 
trated spirits.  It  is  in  a  peculiar  sense  de- 
moralizing, because  it  is  often  not  social  but 
secret.  The  habit  of  depending  on  such  stimu- 
lation grows  steadily,  and  brain  and  body  soon 
suffer  the  inevitable  consequences.  The  slow 
workingman  "braces  up"  with  artificial  stimu- 
lation. The  fagged-out  brain  is  urged  on  by  a 
dose  of  alcohol.  The  wearied  woman  nerves 
herself  for  some  further  effort  by  a  drink.  The 
rather  astonishing  fact  that  the  closing  down 
of  the  public  saloon  in  so  large  a  territory  of 
the  United  States  has  left  the  total  amount  of 
alcohol  consumption  almost  unchanged  can 
be  accounted  for  only  by  the  increase  of  this 
type  of  drinking. 

If  medical  experts  like  Forel  are  to  be 
trusted,  this  kind  of  drinking,  which  is  constant 
and  "moderate,"  that  is  to  say,  never  pro- 
ducing what  may  be  properly  called  drunken- 
ness, is  particularly  bad  for  the  offspring  of 
such  drinkers,  and  is  morally  and  intellectually 
destructive.  The  drug  habit  undermines  all 
sense  of  veracity,  but  this  may  be  in  part  be- 
cause of  its  secret  character.  And  it  is  remarka- 
ble that  constant  alcohol  stupefaction  seems, 


330  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

like  the  drug  habit,  to  also  lower  the  sense  of 
veracity  and  to  produce  a  weak-willed  and  un- 
trustworthy type  of  character. 

The  socially  minded  man  will  therefore  re- 
member that  any  transformation  of  society  that 
is  to  be  carried  out  with  a  minimum  of  injustice 
and  hardship  will  have  to  be  carried  out  by  men 
and  women  of  clear  brain  and  minds  unclouded 
by  stimulants.  If  competition  is  not  to  work  its 
worst  and  most  deplorable  results  upon  the 
individual,  this  element  in  the  situation  must  be 
consciously  faced  and  a  remedy  found.  The 
man  who  drinks  because  he  is  a  ''little  tired," 
and  the  woman  who  has  some  alcoholic  patent 
medicine  which  she  takes  at  lessening  intervals 
as  a  "pick-me-up,"  are  in  distinct  danger,  and 
the  more  respectable  they  remain  the  less  likely 
are  they  and  their  friends  to  notice  the  moral 
and  physical  damage  they  are  doing  to  them- 
selves. The  social  drinker  who  "had  a  good 
time"  paid  for  it  with  a  sound  headache.  The 
industrial  drinker  seldom  realizes  how  com- 
pletely the  increasing  irritation  and  depression, 
the  recurring  bursts  of  annoyance  and  lack  of 
self-restraint,  are  due  to  his  or  her  dependence 
upon  a  subtle  poison  of  the  nervous  tissue. 
There  is  reason  to  fear  also  that  some  doctors 
are  reckless  in  their  prescriptions  of  drugs  and 
alcohol  to  patients  who  really  need  fresh  air 
and  rest. 


ADMITTED  SOCIAL  EVILS  331 

The  wild  excitement  of  certain  phases  of  com- 
mercial competition  favors  this  intense  artificial 
stimulation.  The  business  "deal"  must  at  all 
costs  be  carried  through.  The  disappointment 
of  failure  must  be  quietly  borne. 

The  gambling  element  that  enters  into  busi- 
ness otherwise  legitimate  is  another  evil  with 
which  the  socially  thinking  Christian  finds  him- 
self dealing.  Nor  can  he  always  deal  with  it 
as  a  personal  vice ;  it  is  often  an  economic  phe- 
nomenon. The  essence  of  gambling  is  not  the 
taking  of  a  risk.  Every  farmer  takes  a  risk 
when  he  plants  his  crop.  The  inwardness  of  all 
true  gambling  is  taking  a  risk  whose  success  in- 
volves getting  without  rendering  an  equivalent 
service  for  the  getting.  It  is  the  "cost  of  some- 
thing for  nothing, ' '  and  it  is  an  awful  cost.  Any 
legitimate  business  transaction  involves  the  in- 
tent, at  least,  on  each  side  of  advantage  to  both 
seller  and  buyer.  There  may  be  bad  judgment 
and  disappointment,  but  the  intent  has  been  the 
satisfaction  on  both  sides  of  legitimate  wants. 
In  gambling  pure  and  simple  there  is  no  such 
intent.  The  gain  of  one  is  the  loss  of  the  other. 
In  many,  if  not  most,  stock  exchanges  a  certain 
percentage,  variously  estimated,  is  legitimate 
buying  and  selling  with  intent  to  satisfy  legiti- 
mate communal  needs.  But  a  great  deal  is 
more  or  less  pure  gambling  with  no  intent  save 
the  gaining  profits  without  rendering  any  serv- 


332  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

ice  therefor.  And  so  into  seemingly  quite  le- 
gitimately conducted  business  schemes  there 
may  enter  the  same  gambling  spirit.  This  is 
the  immoral  element  that  enters  into  all  ' 'fore- 
stalling," real  estate  speculation,  "corners," 
and  dubious  "deals"  on  margin.  The  public 
hardly  realizes  just  where  the  evil  is,  nor  is  it 
always  easy  to  actually  draw  the  line,  because 
the  morality  is  determined  by  the  "intent" 
rather  than  by  the  social  consequence.  But 
the  public  conscience  has  always  instinctively 
reacted  against  this  gambling,  and  is  bound 
to  try  and  protect  itself  against  the  social 
consequences.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
hitherto  its  efforts  have  been  for  the  most  part 
exceedingly  vain,  and  largely  because  the  effort 
has  been  rather  to  cure  the  symptoms  than  find 
out  causes.  And  it  is  of  vastly  more  importance 
to  get  at  an  ounce  of  cause  than  at  a  pound  of 
symptoms. 

The  mere  desire  to  get  something  from  your 
fellow  man  without  trying  to  render  him  due 
service  in  return  is  immoral.  The  gentleman 
never  wants  to  be  "under  undue  obligation  to 
his  equal,"  but  the  slave  class  and  the  servile 
class  have  been  exploited  with  but  little  thought 
of  their  welfare,  and  this  has  been  the  steady 
and  permanently  corrupting  element  in  all  aris- 
tocracies. The  computation  of  service  value  is 
exceedingly  difficult,  but  without  at  least  the 


ADMITTED  SOCIAL  EVILS  333 

desire  to  render  full  measure  to  those  whom 
we  serve  and  who  serve  us  life  has  not  even 
been  touched  by  Christian  morality. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  any  exact 
standard  by  which  to  tell  whether  any  trans- 
action, let  us  say  in  wheat  or  cotton,  into  which 
the  element  of  speculation  enters,  is  predom- 
inately legitimate  or  is  gambling.  Certainly 
the  results  of  attempts  faithfully  made  in 
Berlin  to  regulate  the  Exchange  are  not  en- 
couraging. Under  our  existing  order  about  all 
the  community  can  do  is  to  protect  the  imma- 
ture and  to  suppress  any  local  nuisance  like 
betting  on  race  tracks,  lotteries,  pool  rooms, 
etc.  In  doing  this  work  the  socially  minded 
Christian  should  be  counted  upon,  but  he  ought 
to  be  open-eyed  to  the  fact  that  the  evil  is  far 
deeper,  and  that  it  is  almost  forced  upon  men 
by  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  live.  From 
earliest  childhood  we  are  taught  that  one  of  the 
chief  virtues  in  life  is  the  capacity  to  see  our 
"chance"  when  it  comes  and  to  take  full  ad- 
vantage of  it.  The  fact  that  the  competition 
for  a  place  as  master  of  the  productive  machin- 
ery is  open  to  all,  even  if  not  equal  for  all,  leads 
boys  and  girls  to  dream  of  the  "chance"  that 
may  enable  them  to  supersede  the  present  own- 
ers and  employers  and  become  themselves  own- 
ers and  employers.  The  "thrift"  and  daring 
needed  have  been,  even  in  our  churches  and 


334  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Sunday  schools,  praised  and  inculcated.  Yet 
it  is  doubtful  if  this  whole  attitude  of  mind  has 
not  been  the  profoundly  demoralizing  and  ir- 
religious way  of  thinking  that  has  made  Jesus 
and  the  kingdom  seem  to  honest  boys  and  girls 
in  America  so  unreal  and  fantastic. 

For  at  bottom  gambling  is  the  longing  for 
mastery  without  service.  And  mastery  without 
service  is  immoral,  and  the  desire  for  it  cor- 
rupting. Much  that  has  been  praised  as  thrift 
and  industry  has  been  corrupted  by  the  motives 
that  have  been  mingled  with  it. 

This  Jesus  saw  clearly  when  he  said  to  his 
disciples,  "You  know  that  the  rulers  of  the 
nations  lord  it  over  them,  and  their  great  ones 
exercise  authority  over  them.  Not  so  shall  it  be 
among  you :  but  whosoever  would  become  great 
among  you  shall  be  your  servant;  and  who- 
soever would  be  first  among  you  shall  be  your 
servant:  even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to 
be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister. ' '  *  Not 
that  the  Christian  life  is  a  denial  of  mastery, 
but  its  goal  is  not  mastery  over  men  but  over 
the  world,  and  this  mastery,  not  by  chance,  nor 
by  birth  or  luck,  but  by  service. 

» Matt.  20.  25-28. 


CHAPTEE  XXIX 

THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  DREAM 

IT  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  city 
seems  always  to  have  been  in  the  center  of  the 
dream  of  the  kingdom.  The  forces  of  human 
life,  both  good  and  evil,  are  at  their  height  in 
the  intensely  associated  life  of  the  city.  Many 
a  brain-worker  thinks  with  envy  of  the  quiet 
and  leisure  of  the  country,  only  to  discover  that 
when  he  gets  there  the  brain  rests  from  its 
labors  and  refuses  to  do  its  regular  work.  The 
stimulation  of  the  great  city  is  a  definite  social 
force,  and  from  the  city  have  gone  forth  the 
revolutionary  movements  by  which  human  life 
has  steadily  advanced.  More  particularly  has 
Christianity  always  been  a  religion  of  the  great 
city.  Rome  dominated  her  fortunes  up  to  the 
Reformation,  and  even  now  both  in  Roman 
Catholic  and  in  Protestant  countries  it  is  the 
city  that  forms  the  center  of  her  religious  life. 

At  the  same  time,  some  of  the  most  depress- 
ing problems  of  life  are  forced  home  on  the 
socially  minded  thinker  by  the  tremendous 
misery  and  squalor  of  the  great  city.  More  par- 
ticularly the  American  city  presents  disheart- 
ening features.  The  exploitation  of  human  life 

335 


336  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

brings  forth  so  evidently  its  harvest  of  social 
wrongs  and  individual  evils  in  the  centers  of 
population,  that  one  cannot  but  dream  at  times 
of  a  decentralizing  process  to  give  the  people 
back  to  the  land  and  the  land  back  to  the  people. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  farming  popu- 
lation pays  taxes  far  out  of  proportion,  and  so 
is  driven  from  the  land.  A  tax  on  land  rentals 
would  under  existing  conditions  almost  cer- 
tainly free  a  large  proportion  of  farmers  from 
taxation,  but  the  farmers  cannot  see  that  fact 
and  are  generally  in  favor  of  the  "protection" 
which  taxes  them  out  of  all  proportion  to  their 
earnings.  One  reason,  at  least,  why  "the  poor 
crowd  into  our  cities,"  as  the  phrase  goes,  is 
that  they  are  crowded  into  the  city  by  inequita- 
ble taxation.  But  this  is  not  the  only  reason 
for  the  attraction  of  the  great  city. 

Some  of  the  most  important  reasons  for  the 
growth  of  the  city  are,  of  course,  economic.  It 
is  of  great  industrial  advantage  to  mass  men 
for  production  and  distribution.  With  these 
causes  more  competent  writers  must  deal.  But 
besides  these  there  are  also  psychological  causes 
which  are  often  ignored.  Men  do  not  live  by 
bread  alone,  they  live  in  dreams  and  hopes  of 
future  things.  The  normal  man  or  woman  is 
always  drawing  a  prize  in  the  future.  The  chil- 
dren are  to  grow  up  to  be  famous,  the  "job"  is 
to  be  greatly  improved,  this  or  that  success 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  337 

measured  in  the  standards  of  the  particular 
life  is  to  be  obtained.  In  fact,  human  life  is  al- 
ways lived  distinctly  in  the  future,  and  the  city 
offers  the  more  probable  background  for  these 
dreams.  Its  richer  color  and  more  startling 
changes,  its  varied  impressions,  shake  the 
rather  starved  imaginations  of  the  overworked 
and  underfed  poorer  tenth  of  our  city  popula- 
tion. Moreover,  the  misery  of  economic  disa- 
bility is  also  not  simply  physical,  it  is  psycho- 
logical, and  its  keenest  pang  is  the  sense  of 
inferiority  and  failure,  not  always  very  defi- 
nitely formulated,  but  revealing  itself  in  the 
attitude  and  speech.  Now,  this  is  relative,  and 
companionship  greatly  lessens  the  pang.  To 
be  poorly  dressed  in  a  great  company  of  well- 
dressed  people  is  distinctly  painful.  To  bear 
hardship  that  everybody  else  is  suffering  may 
not  be  pleasant,  but  it  is  not  humiliating.  The 
humiliation  of  poverty  is  felt  far  less  in  the 
crowded  slum  than  in  the  country  district  or 
smaller  town.  The  simple  companionship  of 
poverty  lightens  the  load.  Men  and  women 
who  have  touched  the  lowest  levels  of  economic 
inability  have  said  to  the  writer  that  the  going 
down  was  the  bitterest  suffering,  but  once  hav- 
ing found,  as  it  were,  the  level  it  brought  com- 
panionship, and  the  sense  of  loneliness  was  to 
some  degree  lost;  "others  were  as  badly  off." 
Moreover,  the  city  always  offers  some  solace. 


338  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Its  excitement,  noise,  confusion  distracts,  and 
misery  needs  distraction.  Nothing  is  also  more 
surprising  in  our  individualistic  society  than 
the  almost  unlimited  communism  of  a  certain 
economic  level.  To  the  limited  extent  of  their 
resources  the  poor  are  banded  for  self-main- 
tenance, and  help  each  other  in  a  surprising 
way.  But  this  seems  only  to  fully  obtain  in 
the  great  city. 

For  this  reason  the  socially  minded  man  must 
study  the  psychology  of  the  city.  It  has  its 
very  startling  contrasts  of  great  loneliness.  No- 
where can  misery  hide  more  effectively  than  in 
the  surging  crowd.  It  has  its  atmosphere  of 
ready  and  unlimited  sociability;  all  sorts  of 
companionship  offer  themselves  easily  to  the 
one  seeking  them.  Thus  materials  for  dream- 
ing and  opportunities  for  companionship  make 
the  city  very  attractive  in  spite  of  all  its 
shadows. 

To  the  socially  minded  the  city  is  full  of 
hope.  In  it  men  and  women  are  learning  the 
absolute  necessity  for  the  associated  life,  and 
the  tremendous  power  of  cooperation.  It 
dramatically  demonstrates  what  union  and 
organization  can  really  do  in  mastering  the 
material  world  for  the  higher  life.  But  one 
great  obstacle  confronts  the  American  city, 
and  that  is  a  fundamental  distrust  by  the  in- 
fluential class  of  the  city  democracy.  This  is 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  339 

really  an  aspect  of  the  lack  of  faith  in  democ- 
racy which  is  characteristic  of  Puritanism.  The 
American  city  needs  larger  autonomy.  The  en- 
deavors to  protect  it  against  itself  are  as  futile 
as  they  are  foolish.  The  result  has  been  to 
simply  play  into  the  hands  of  exploiting  com- 
mercialism. And  even  in  the  city  there  must  be 
decentralization,  and  local  requirements  receive 
local  attention  in  local  autonomy. 

Only  so  will  the  different  ethical  ideals  and 
moral  levels  ever  reach  a  wholesome  adjust- 
ment. One  difficulty  with  the  great  Anglo- 
Saxon  cities  of  to-day  is  that  there  is  no 
homogeneity  in  the  ethical  ideal.  The  selfish 
antisocial  forces  are  often  leagued  by  common 
interest  in  one  or  other  form  of  exploitation 
(saloons,  dives,  politics  for  money,  etc.),  but 
good  men  with  the  best  ideals  from  Italy,  Ger- 
many, Ireland,  Sweden,  or  Bohemia,  find  little 
common  ground  among  themselves  or  with 
Americans  of  equally  good  intentions,  because 
the  forms  of  their  ethics  differ  so  widely.  The 
Italian  citizen  does  things  on  Sunday  which 
shock  the  Puritan  soul,  the  Puritan  seems  to  the 
German  a  hypocrite,  and  the  Irishman  has  no 
understanding  for  the  Swedish  point  of  view. 
Only  by  wide  experimentation  and  large  liberty 
to  make  mistakes  and  learn  in  the  making  of 
them  will  it  be  possible  to  forge  these  broken 
pieces  into  Siegfried's  conquering  sword,  and 


340  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  forging  will  have  to  be  done  by  one  who 
knows  no  fear  of  democracy. 

At  the  very  basis  of  the  city  life  is  the  matter 
of  sanitation.  All  should  be  interested  in  this, 
no  matter  how  selfish  and  sheltered  the  life. 
It  is  a  good  thing  that  some  of  the  worst  dirt 
diseases,  like  typhoid  and  tuberculosis,  and 
scarlet  fever,  are  contagious  and  infectious, 
and  that  the  lesson  of  social  solidarity  is  forced 
home  on  the  most  exclusively  prosperous  class 
by  the  death  of  children  in  that  class  of  disease? 
bred  directly  by  neglect  of  the  great  city.  To 
pamper  and  shelter  children  is  almost  worse 
than  to  expose  them,  for  when  at  last  they  do 
meet  the  bacteria  they  are  unprepared  and  die 
where  poorer  and  exposed  children  would  have 
become  gradually  immune.  The  only  effective 
way  is  to  get  rid  of  the  causes  which  medical 
science  is  pointing  out  to  us.  The  attempt  to 
shelter  is  happily  more  or  less  vain,  and  so 
sanitation  can  be  forced  home  as  a  tremendous 
power  for  social  awakening.  For  only  social 
activity  is  of  any  use.  The  individual  is  com- 
paratively helpless  without  communal  support. 
The  disease-breeding  slums  happily  slay  not 
only  their  inhabitants,  but  the  children  of  those 
who  thoughtlessly  and  carelessly  live  on  the 
ground  rents. 

Amid  the  fruitful  causes  of  individual  work- 
lessness  and  economic  inefficiency  ill  health 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  341 

figures  largely.  Whole  families  are  dragged 
down  below  the  level  of  economic  self-main- 
tenance by  the  expenses  and  difficulties  involved 
in  illness,  often  of  a  quite  preventable  nature. 
The  streets  that  are  badly  kept  cost  the  com- 
munity in  pauperism  and  family  decay  eight 
or  ten  times  the  amount  needed  to  really  clean 
them  up.  The  inevitable  support  of  blinded 
and  crippled  children  costs  eventually  far  more 
than  the  school  inspection  which  would  so  often 
stop  the  matter  in  the  beginning.  Now  that 
at  last  we  hardly  like  to  see  men  and  women 
die  of  starvation,  and  grudgingly  assume  their 
support  rather  than  permit  it,  it  should  dawn 
on  us  that  the  prevention  of  starvation  is  best 
attained  by  the  opening  up  of  opportunity,  and 
by  seeing  to  it  that  men  and  women  are  phys- 
ically able  to  render  service  according  to  their 
ability. 

The  military  arrangements  of  Germany  are 
exceedingly  elaborate  for  maintaining  the 
troops  in  good  health,  and  the  maintenance  of 
the  health  of  the  great  industrial  army  is  just 
as  much  a  matter  of  social  concern,  and  we  give 
it  no  proper  attention  as  compared  to  the  need. 
We  need  social  prevention  of  disease,  and  a 
good  beginning  has  been  made,  but  neither  the 
means  at  the  disposal  of  health  officers  are 
adequate,  nor  is  there  the  cooperation  with 
them  which  would  make  the  work  tenfold  more 


342  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

effective.  A  Christian  church  in  its  neighbor- 
hood might  profitably  organize  the  forces  for 
sanitary  reform,  for  clean  streets,  proper  in- 
spection of  buildings,  and  cooperation  with  the 
medical  forces  for  the  prevention  of  disease. 
The  cure  of  disease  is  important,  but  not  nearly 
so  important  as  the  removal  of  the  causes  of 
disease. 

The  church  as  a  public  servant  of  the  com- 
munity should  not  be  content  to  minister  to  its 
own  group.  It  is  released  from  taxation;  it 
should  pay  back  that  debt  by  watchfulness  over 
the  material,  spiritual,  and  social  needs  of  the 
great  shifting  city  population.  It  is  the  per- 
sonally most  discouraging  task  the  city  pastor 
or  Christian  worker  faces  that  he  ministers  to 
a  "floating"  population;  that  the  church  may 
be  filled  with  those  who  from  a  pew-rental 
point  of  view  only  cause  concern  to  the  church 
treasurer.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  to 
touch  a  few  of  these  lives  and  awaken  them 
socially,  and  redeem  them  from  selfish  individ- 
ualism, is  to  make  missionaries  floating,  like 
Paul's  converts,  all  over  the  world.  One  reason 
Christianity  spread  was  because  it  was  a  mes- 
sage to  the  discontented,  disorganized,  floating 
proletarian  population,  and  so  spread  from 
city  to  city  like  wildfire.  The  message  of  the 
social  kingdom  may  be  carried  into  the  smallest 
place  by  those  who  are  not  "heads  of  families, " 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  343 

but  are  just  the  disconnected,  floating,  restless 
elements  with  which  Jesus  and  Paul  had  to  do, 
and  who  need  the  message  of  work  and  hope 
as  badly  as  did  the  proletarian  underworld  in 
the  days  of  Borne. 

All  the  forms  of  city  life  need  the  touch  of 
socially  awakened  men  and  women.  There  is 
great  danger  of  official  mechanism  making 
havoc  of  the  great  social  activities  in  which  the 
community  is  engaged.  Only  the  constant 
watchfulness  of  society  will  keep  any  institu- 
tion from  lapsing  into  actual  uselessness  or 
even  harmfulness.  City  hospitals,  asylums, 
jails,  houses  of  detention,  stations,  courtrooms, 
all  need  the  intelligent  study  of  individuals  who 
have  experience,  who  are  unselfish,  and  who 
are  socially  awakened  to  the  possibility  of  the 
vast  city  with  its  tremendous  and  fascinating 
life.  The  Church  has  been  doing  many  things 
she  can  now  well  afford  to  hand  over  to  the 
community;  thus  Protestantism  feels  little 
inclination  to  undertake  parochial  schools,  but 
socially  minded  churches  must  not  on  that  ac- 
count forget  the  public  schools  of  the  great 
city,  and  there  is  a  very  distinct  work  to  be 
done  in  the  examination  and  quickening  of  the 
public  school  system.  It  is  often  most  un- 
fortunate that  the  possessing  classes  in  sending 
their  children  to  private  schools  lose  sight  of 
the  public  school  and  forget  their  real  responsi- 


344  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

bility  for  it.  This  is  anti-social,  and  in  some 
cases  has  led  to  a  penurious  policy  in  regard 
to  the  necessary  outlay.  The  great  public 
school  of  the  city  presents  many  questions, 
and  only  real  experience  can  be  of  much  use 
in  dealing  with  the  many  rising  difficulties. 
It  is  worth  while  asking,  for  instance,  whether 
the  whole  career  as  school-teacher  should  not 
be  made  more  attractive,  and  whether  a  larger 
number  of  men  might  not  be  employed.  Such 
a  question  is  raised  when  one  asks  how  the 
schools  are  really  fitting  boys  and  girls  for 
their  particular  life.  The  schools  should  never, 
for  instance,  be  made  to  serve  narrowly  con- 
ceived religious  ends.  Jews  and  Koman  Cath- 
olics, Protestants  and  unbelievers  should  all  be 
able  with  quiet  conscience  to  send  their  chil- 
dren to  the  public  school,  knowing  they  would 
not  be  abused  for  any  denominational  ends. 
But  all  of  these  believe  in  social  service,  and 
here  a  common  ground  for  the  highest  kind  of 
ethical  teaching  appears.  It  is  a  grave  ques- 
tion whether  much  more  might  not  be  done  to 
make  the  whole  public  school  system  stand  for 
a  practical  ethical  life  which  would  find  its 
highest  religious  sanction  in  the  home  or  in  the 
church,  but  whose  activities  were  constantly 
explained  and  defended  by  the  school. 

The  local  church,  as  such,  should  in  most 
cases  keep  out  of  all  municipal  party  struggle. 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  345 

Her  very  organization  unfits  her  in  many  ways 
for  effective  service  at  this  point.  Her  in- 
formation is  no  better  than  that  of  any  other 
organization,  and  the  temptation  to  abuse  her 
confidence  will  be  overwhelming.  As  individu- 
als men  should  demand  all  freedom  to  serve  in 
any  political  party  that  seems  to  them  to  prom- 
ise most  for  the  kingdom,  whether  Eepublican 
or  Democrat,  Prohibition,  Labor,  or  Socialist, 
or  any  other.  But  the  church  has  no  particular 
faculty  for  coming  to  any  infallible  decision, 
and  yet  a  mistake  generally  means  the  fatal 
weakening  of  the  real  message.  But  churches 
could  render  invaluable  services  by  investiga- 
tion of  local  conditions,  and  the  organization  of 
young  men's  and  women's  clubs  for  particular 
social  service  in  the  neighborhood,  and  always 
with  a  view  to  finding  out  wliy  this  or  that 
misery  or  abuse  is  permitted.  To  really  get  at 
causes  is  of  far  more  importance  than  glossing 
over  the  situation.  And  often  we  can  get  at 
causes  only  by  trying  out  this  or  that  supposed 
remedy. 

The  social  settlement  should  have  the  earnest 
support  of  all  right-thinking  persons,  nor 
should  it  be  demanded  that  the  settlement  be 
"religious"  in  the  ordinary  meaning  of  that 
term — that  is,  committed  to  dogmatic  religious 
positions.  For  the  sake  of  its  highest  useful- 
ness the  settlement  must  be  regarded  by  all  its 


346  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

neighbors  as  impartial  and  generally  sympa- 
thetic with  all  right  thinking  and  doing  quite 
irrespective  of  creed  or  personal  denomina- 
tional leaning.  That  the  deepest  inspirations 
of  all  true  settlement  work  are  religious  will  be 
quite  evident  enough  in  the  life  of  unselfish  serv- 
ice which  is  the  mission  of  the  social  settlement. 
Even  where  a  church  maintains  a  settlement 
it  is  important  that  the  workers  be  left  exceed- 
ingly free,  and  that  there  be  faith  in  the  grad- 
ual correction  of  mistakes  by  increased  ex- 
perience. Social  training  means  more  than 
broad  sympathy ;  it  means  knowledge  of  social 
conditions,  and  in  the  city  this  knowledge  is 
exceedingly  hard  to  get.  The  conditions  are 
so  complex  and  so  changing  that  what  is 
needed  is  elasticity  and  freedom  to  constantly 
adapt  means  to  ends,  and  no  one  settlement 
work  will  be  exactly  like  any  other. 

What  one  service  could  we  render  to  the 
heathen  world  greater  than  the  building  and 
maintaining  a  really  Christian  city?  We  would 
hardly  need  to  send  any  more  missionaries 
abroad,  for  all  the  nations  would  be  sending  to 
see  how  it  was  done.  A  Japanese  student  said 
to  the  writer  that  he  wanted  to  go  to  London 
to  see  a  " Christian  city,"  and  the  writer's 
heart  sank  as  he  thought  of  Charles  Booth's 
last  volume  of  "Life  and  Labor  in  London," 
and  as  he  saw  in  his  mind's  eye  the  long  sad 


THE  CITY  AND  THE  KINGDOM  347 

line  of  tattered  sodden  men  and  women  wait- 
ing on  Sunday  morning  for  the  opening  of  the 
gaudy  gin  palace  on  "the  Lord's  Day." 

The  flashy  and  unwholesome  excitements  of 
the  city  must  be  offset  by  parks,  museums,  play- 
grounds, public  music,  clean  and  well-lighted 
places,  noble  buildings,  reading  rooms,  and  pub- 
lic education.  These  things  must  be  made  easy 
to  us  all.  We  have  so  little  surplus  energy  left 
over  after  the  necessary  demands  made  upon  us 
have  been  met  that  only  when  the  higher  life 
of  beauty  and  spiritual  rest  and  recreation  is 
forced  upon  us  do  we  really  enter  into  it.  There 
are  always  venturesome,  energetic  souls  who 
at  all  costs  seek  and  dare,  but  the  average  one 
of  us  needs  almost  to  be  taken  into  the  king- 
dom of  the  higher  life  by  violence.  And  more 
particularly  should  the  city  of  the  future  care 
for  its  boys  and  girls  as  they  emerge  into  adult 
years  with  the  spirit  of  conquest  and  idealism 
ready  to  be  corrupted  and  debased  into  a  war 
against  society  and  convention.  The  spirit- 
ual leadership  of  youth  must  find  in  the  social 
activities  of  the  new  Christian  city  an  outlet 
for  the  idealistic  energies  of  youth's  most 
feverish  age. 

The  communal  life  of  the  town  and  city  has 
its  duties  to  the  whole  man,  and  the  ideal  that 
should  control  us  is,  again,  the  conception  of 
the  family,  in  which  there  is  loving  care  for  the 


348  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

weak  and  immature  and  earnest  respect  for 
each  other,  and  where  the  communal  life  looks 
forward  not  to  some  bureaucratic  supervision 
of  adult  life,  but  to  the  free  autonomous  de- 
velopment of  human  life  in  all  its  varied  indi- 
viduality. Much  of  the  charm  to  many  minds  of 
the  big  city  is  its  real  personal  freedom.  '  *  One 
may  live  as  one  likes,"  is  the  constant  reply  to 
anyone  asking  young  couples,  for  instance, 
why  they  want  to  go  to  the  city.  This  freedom 
is  not  always  well  used,  and  often  is  shamefully 
abused.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  the  only  hope 
for  that  highest  liberty  which  consists  in  the 
free  choosing  of  the  good  under  the  compulsion 
of  the  whole  trend  of  the  soul's  deepest 
necessity. 


CHAPTER  XXX 
POLITICAL  MACHINERY  AND  THE  KINGDOM 

ACCORDING  to  the  theory  underlying  these 
discussions  democracy  means,  in  the  last  analy- 
sis, the  political  autonomy  of  the  mature.  It 
means  that  though  the  democracy  chooses 
instruments  for  administration,  and  seeks  by 
representatives  to  carry  out  its  will,  it  does 
its  own  thinking  and  shapes  its  own  policy. 
This  theory  seeks,  then,  so  to  modify  and 
change  the  political  machinery  that  democracy 
can  make  its  will  felt,  and  felt  quickly  and  im- 
peratively. Many  regard  it  as  the  function  of 
democracy  simply  to  choose  a  group  of  su- 
perior persons,  fitted  by  capacity  and  education 
to  do  the  thinking  of  the  democracy,  and  feel  a 
deep  distrust  of  any  direct  action  of  the  democ- 
racy upon  the  legislative  and  administrative 
functions  of  government.  It  is  this  conception 
that  largely  framed  our  existing  republics  in 
both  France  and  the  United  States,  and  only 
very  slowly  is  the  other  conception  making 
headway  in  Switzerland.  This  theory  of  a 
representative  democracy,  or  a  democracy 
choosing  superior  persons  to  represent  them 
and  give  them  good  government,  seems  to  miss 

349 


350  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

the  fact  that  good  government  is  too  expensive 
if  gotten  at  the  expense  of  the  surrender  of  au- 
tonomy. At  best  government  will  be  only  an 
approach  to  the  ideal,  and  it  is  probably  far 
better  that  the  democracy  make  its  own  mis- 
takes and  suffer  for  them  than  that  the  best 
possible  group  of  superior  persons  save  them 
both  the  mistakes  and  the  suffering. 

Of  course,  this  involves  a  change  in  the  esti- 
mate of  self-government.  It  becomes  a  means 
for  individual  and  communal  development. 
All  machinery  of  government  has,  therefore,  its 
primary  interest  for  the  socially  awakened 
man,  who  is  thus  consciously  democratic,  as  he 
sees  it  aiming  at  the  higher  and  more  perfect 
self-expression  of  democracy.  He  has  no  il- 
lusions about  the  infallible  character  of  de- 
mocracy. He  realizes  its  hot  passions,  its 
shortsightedness,  its  collective  and  individual 
ignorance;  but  he  also  feels  that  no  group  of 
superior  persons  is  free  from  very  similar 
weaknesses;  and  he  has  no  desire  to  hedge 
democracy  about  to  save  it  from  mistakes.  He 
has  only  faith  to  believe  that  maturity  is  more 
precious  than  any  amount  of  "good  govern- 
ment" purchased  at  the  price  of  permanent  im- 
maturity. It  is  the  weak,  the  hot-headed,  and 
the  superficial  who  most  need  to  be  taught  by 
bitter  experience  the  evils  of  hot-headedness ; 
and  though  it  is  sad  that  many  innocent  suffer 


POLITICS  AND  THE  KINGDOM  351 

with  the  foolish  and  ignorant,  the  socially 
awakened  man  realizes  the  value  of  solidarity 
and  has  no  desire  for  personal  extrication. 

Hence  all  new  political  machinery  proposed 
must  be  weighed  in  accordance  with  the  theory 
of  government  which  underlies  the  ideal.  Do 
we  want  direct  and  immediate  democracy  with 
all  its  dangers  and  possible  mistakes?  Then 
such  questions  as  those  of  the  recall,  the  refer- 
endum, proportional  voting  must  be  considered 
from  that  point  of  view.  It  may  be  a  fair  ques- 
tion whether  such  measures  will  promote  democ- 
racy, but  usually  men  argue  about  them  with- 
out finding  out  whether  they  really  want  the 
same  thing.  If  a  man  does  not  believe  in  any 
direct  democracy,  but  prefers  to  be  ruled  by 
superior  persons,  then  he  will  probably  want 
to  limit  even  more  than  now  the  right  of 
franchise.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the 
possible  efficiency  of  such  proposals,  but  it  is 
useless  to  even  begin  their  discussion  before 
asking  the  primary  question,  namely,  Efficient 
for  what?  We  all  want  good  government,  but 
the  real  democrat  does  not  want  it  at  the  price 
of  seZ/-government. 

Along  the  same  lines  the  socially  awakened 
man  will  ask  whether  women  should  vote.  It 
is  not  primarily  whether  their  voting  would  or 
would  not  improve  the  present  government.  It 
probably  would  do  so  far  less  than  zealous  ad- 


352  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

vocates  claim,  but  the  question  is  a  deeper  one : 
Ought  not  women  to  have  the  education  which 
voting  means!  Does  she  not  need  the  ballot 
not  alone  for  her  protection,  but  in  order  that 
she  may  be  compelled  to  consider  what  will  pro- 
tect her?  Granted  that  a  woman's  place  is  the 
home,  the  danger  now  is  that  soon  there  will  be 
no  home  for  her  to  go  to.  Mortgaged  farms 
and  rented  tenements  are  not  good  foundations 
for  homes.  Hotels  and  boarding  houses  are 
breaking  up  more  homes  than  politics  are  likely 
to  do.  The  ballot  has  been  a  great  political 
educator,  and  it  has  only  just  begun  its  work. 
Industrial  woman  brings  no  tears  to  the  eyes 
of  the  tool-possessing  class,  but  industrial 
womanhood  is  not  the  old  foundation  for  the 
home.  TVill  the  ballot  take  as  many  women 
from  their  homes  and  for  as  long  a  time  as  the 
factory  system? 

The  same  point  of  view  should  in  some 
measure  determine  our  attitude  toward  all  pro- 
posals for  limiting  the  ballot  by  property  and 
educational  tests.  The  property-holding  and 
the  educated  class  do  not  need  the  ballot  for 
protection.  They  can  hire  lawyers  and  poli- 
ticians to  protect  them,  and  education  makes 
them  often  far  too  articulate.  The  dumb  help- 
lessness of  poverty  and  ignorance  needs  the 
ballot  as  its  only  expression,  and  as  a  mere 
safety  valve  it  has  proved  useful  to  the  social 


POLITICS  AND  THE  KINGDOM  353 

order.  A  certain  type  of  violent  radical  might 
well  wish  for  ballot  restriction,  for  the  alterna- 
tive would  often  be  revolution,  as  in  Turkey,  or 
murder,  as  in  Eussia.  The  anarchy  of  force 
might  be  so  unwise  as  to  wish  for  violence  now 
headed  off  by  the  sense  that  the  ballot  is  the 
proper  remedy.  But  surely  the  Christian 
social  thinker  has  no  such  notion. 

The  whole  race  question  must  be  dealt  with 
in  the  same  way.  We  give  the  negro  a  vote 
not  because  we  pass  judgment  on  his  qualifica- 
tions for  voting,  but  because  he  needs  the  ballot 
and  we  need  to  know  what  he  wants.  None  of 
us  are  probably  really  qualified  to  vote,  or  in- 
deed to  do  most  of  the  things  we  must  do. 
We  learn  how  to  do  them  by  doing  them.  We 
think  little  enough  about  our  political  duties, 
and  if  we  did  not  have  presidential  elections 
every  four  years  we  would  think  still  less.  It 
is  enormously  important  that  a  politically  un- 
trained race  of  over  ten  millions  of  colored 
blood  be  compelled  to  think  politically  and  to 
think  in  terms  of  the  whole  nation.  The  South- 
ern States  that  exclude  the  negro  from  the 
ballot  are  but  complicating  the  whole  situation 
by  shutting  themselves  off  from  knowledge  of 
what  the  negro  wants,  and  by  leaving  him  to  a 
dumb  and  possibly  bitter  and  unreasoning  dis- 
content with  the  order  about  him. 

Special  privilege  and  illegitimate  monopoly 


354  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

have  great  fears  of  the  extension  of  democracy. 
Why?  If  the  democracy  is  as  ignorant  and 
purchasable  as  it  is  represented  to  be,  why  do 
special  privileges  prefer  to  deal  with  the  Senate 
and  with  smaller  bodies?  Democracy  has,  in- 
deed, been  often  corrupt  and  venial,  so  far  as 
we  have  ever  had  democracy,  and  yet  in  history 
it  is  not  easy  to  show  that  superior  persons 
have  given  a  government  any  freer  from  the 
stain  of  ignoble  self-seeking  than  the  more 
democratic  forms.  And  to  the  socially  minded 
the  only  hope  is  in  a  democracy;  for  if  it  can- 
not really  govern  itself,  then  there  is  no  use 
in  trying  to  govern  it  from  the  outside.  Nor 
has  democracy,  so  far  as  we  have  had  it,  done 
badly  in  the  choice  of  its  leaders.  The  entire 
monarchical  history  of  Europe  can  hardly  give 
us  a  list  of  names  to  compare  in  character  and 
ability  with  Washington,  John  Adams,  Jeffer- 
son, John  Quincy  Adams,  Andrew  Jackson,  and 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  these  are  only  six  out  of 
twenty-six  of  whom  none  was  a  scoundrel  like 
Charles  the  First  of  England  or  any  of  the 
Bourbons,  and  some  of  whom  were  men  of  al- 
most as  marked  parts  as  those  we  have  selected. 
What  we  want  is  not  less  democracy  but  more. 
We  remember  always  as  Christians  that  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  crucified  Jesus,  but  the 
common  people  heard  him  gladly. 
How  the  machinery  of  our  government  is 


POLITICS  AND  THE  KINGDOM  355 

to  be  altered  leaves  large  room  for  discussion, 
but  the  end  before  the  socially  awakened  man 
is  surely  mapped  out  with  some  plainness.  To 
have  faith  in  democracy  is  to  have  faith  in 
God's  way  with  us,  and  to  have  faith  in  our- 
selves. We  do  not  put  our  trust  in  princes, 
whether  of  birth  or  of  commerce. 

Some  of  the  radical  leaders  are  at  this  point 
extreme  and  impractical.  They  would  per- 
suade us  to  do  no  fussing  with  the  "bourgeoise" 
political  machinery.  This  is  nonsense.  The 
future-kingdom  society  will  be  made  up  of 
fallible  men  of  blood  and  like  passions  with 
ourselves.  It  will  need  political  machinery  and 
all  the  experience  the  ages  have  gathered  to 
run  it  at  all.  No  experiments  will  be  wasted, 
even  failures  will  show  us  where  the  rocks  lie. 
We  shall  often  have  to  try  out  a  dozen  dif- 
ferent schemes  to  find  one  small  improvement. 
Direct  primaries,  all  sorts  of  absurd  sumptuary 
laws,  all  matters  of  petty  regulations — some 
men  will  see  on  the  face  of  them  that  they  are 
good,  some  on  their  face  that  they  are  evil ;  but 
only  trial  will  help  us  to  final  conclusions. 
Often  the  experimentation  works  hardship  and 
is  expensive,  but  all  life  is  expensive,  and  the 
most  expensive  thing  of  all  is  to  sit  still,  as  in 
the  Orient,  and  let  life  go  over  us.  The  whole 
question  of  municipal  socialism,  improperly 
so  called,  must  be  tried  out.  If  the  special 


356  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

privileges  engaged  in  transit  business  are  so 
sure  that  municipal  ownership  and  operation 
would  be  a  failure,  why  do  they  fight  all  ex- 
periments so  vigorously?  Of  course,  no  one  is 
wise  enough  to  really  know.  Not  even  the  great 
success  in  England  and  Germany  and  elsewhere 
is  sure  proof  that  we  could  do  the  same.  The 
only  way,  however,  to  find  out  will  be  by  ex- 
periment, perhaps  costly  experiment,  but  find 
out  sooner  or  later  the  democracy  certainly 
will. 

Naturally,  for  the  Christian  democratic 
thinker  machinery  is  only  a  means  to  an  end. 
No  perfection  of  the  machinery  can  do  more 
than  enable  life  to  find  self-expression.  The 
main  thing  is  to  make  the  life,  both  communal 
and  individual,  really  Christian.  When,  how- 
ever, the  question  of  new  political  machinery  is 
raised,  he  must  desire  that  which  most  com- 
pletely enables  democracy  to  express  itself, 
whether  Christian  or  no.  If  it  is  not  Chris- 
tian, the  sooner  we  find  out,  and  set  about  mak- 
ing it  Christian,  the  better.  If  it  is  Christian, 
then  the  wider  its  self-expression  the  better 
for  the  whole  world.  And  this  desire  to  make 
our  democracy  serviceable  to  the  whole  world 
should  really  influence  every  Christian  man. 
This  Eepublic  of  the  United  States  is  set  on  a 
hill,  and  Christian  civilization  is  on  trial.  To 
Germany  and  France  and  to  England  and 


POLITICS  AND  THE  KINGDOM  357 

the  United  States  men  are  turning  from  over 
all  the  world,  but  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States  has  until  recently  been  the  model  to 
which  the  nations  were  distinctly  turning.  It 
is  not  now  what  it  once  was  in  the  eyes  of 
nations  willing  to  learn.  We  have  not  held  our 
place  relatively  as  the  leader  of  democracy  and 
the  political  teacher  in  the  family  of  nations. 
We  must  awaken  from  slumbers  too  secure. 
We  have  been  so  engrossed  in  the  material  con- 
quest of  the  continent  that  we  have  forgotten 
some  values  of  really  more  concern  than  ma- 
chinery and  clever  business  combination  or  tall 
buildings. 

We  must  gain  again  the  leadership  by  show- 
ing, first,  that  in  spite  of  all  appearances  to  the 
contrary,  we  are  really  a  democracy  and  not  a 
plutocracy ;  and,  secondly,  that  we  have  not  lost 
the  political  sense  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and 
can  still  construct  a  political  machinery  that 
will  make  again  the  democracy  articulate; 
and  then,  thirdly,  we  must  show  that  we  are 
a  theocratic  democracy.  That  God  does  really 
reign  in  popular  institutions  is  our  firm  faith; 
without  that  faith  we  would  have  no  interest 
in  popular  institutions.  And,  lastly,  it  must  be 
a  Christian  theocratic  democracy.  The  God 
who  moves  in  our  affairs  we  believe  is  the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  this 
Divine  Father  we  would  manifest  unto  the 


358  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

world.  All  the  machinery  of  democracy  has 
its  highest  significance  only  as  it  enables  us  to 
reveal  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  to 
men  and  make  him  known  in  the  fullness  of  his 
glory. 

It  is  because  the  heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God,  and  man's  selfishness  and  sin  hide  him; 
it  is  because  the  earth  showeth  his  handiwork 
and  our  cities  reveal  our  selfishness  and  sordid- 
ness,  that  we  long  to  make  God  manifest  as  he 
only  can  be  made  fully  manifest  in  the  lives  of 
a  perfected  manhood.  We  seek  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness, that  men  may  see  what  we  know  with  all 
our  hearts  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  that  God 
is  the  God  of  righteousness,  of  order,  and  of 
the  beauty  of  holiness. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

SUMMARY 

RELIGION  has  always  been  social.  It  has 
functioned  as  a  bond  of  union  stronger  than 
speech,  or  blood,  or  law,  or  geography.  It 
must  again  become  the  bond  of  a  new  union  of 
humanity.  The  new  emphasis  upon  the  social 
message  is  only  reviving  the  old.  Nor  is  the 
contrast  between  the  social  group  and  the  indi- 
vidual quite  the  whole  story.  The  real  contrast 
is  between  the  socially  minded  and  the  selfishly 
minded.  The  social  message  in  no  way  mini- 
mizes the  individual.  On  the  contrary,  the 
more  the  individual  is  exalted  the  greater  the 
responsibility  of  the  group  for  the  individual. 
The  infinite  value  of  the  individual  soul  is  what 
gives  reality  to  the  social  message.  We  are 
concerned  for  the  poorest  and  most  depraved 
because  of  the  potential  divinity  in  fullest  glory 
and  beauty  in  every  life. 

What,  then,  must  be  the  definite  social  min- 
istry of  every  Christian  ministry?  and  all 
Christian  life  is  Christian  ministry.  In  every 
little  hamlet  there  should  be  a  group  of  serv- 
ants of  the  kingdom  asking,  How  can  we  make 
our  community  really  more  like  heaven  on 

359 


360  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

earth?  What  can  we  do  for  the  children? 
What  can  we  do  for  social  justice?  What 
can  we  do  for  the  lowly?  What  can  we  do 
for  the  boys  and  girls,  that  they  may  become 
active  social  servants?  How  can  poverty 
be  not  simply  relieved,  but  the  causes  of  it 
abolished?  How  can  we  get  rid  of  intem- 
perance, graft,  the  spirit  of  gambling,  the  ex- 
ploitation of  human  life?  The  question  must 
be  forced  home  by  the  Christian  Church,  What 
lack  we  yet  that  we  may  inherit  eternal  life? 
The  first  stage  is  inquiry.  What  is  really 
wrong?  Slavery  was  eating  the  heart  out  of 
us  as  a  nation,  and  few  saw  it.  Are  there  social 
evils  as  bad  which  are  eating  the  heart  out  of 
us,  and  we  don't  see  them?  At  the  same  time 
inquiry  had  better  be  carried  on  while  actually 
doing  something.  A  church  asks,  "Why  do 
not  the  young  men  come?"  Well,  find  out! 
Sooner  or  later  a  good  many  reasons  will  ap- 
pear that  are  not  part  of  the  general  depravity 
of  young  men.  Long,  tedious  hours  in  shop 
and  factory,  with  unwholesome  amusements 
and  craving  rather  for  excitement  and  distrac- 
tion than  for  edification  and  religious  inspira- 
tion, mark  a  condition  of  our  life.  Is  that  nec- 
essary? We  must  find  out,  and  one  way  is  to 
get  the  young  men  interested  in  telling  us  as 
far  as  they  know,  and  getting  them  to  know 
more  than  they  do  about  the  facts. 


SUMMARY  361 

Sermons  and  prayer  meetings,  class  meet- 
ings and  Sunday  schools,  are  essential  to  a  well- 
ordered  church  life,  but  they  should  only  be 
inspiration  and  stimulus  to  something  stretch- 
ing out  beyond.  The  Church  must  organize 
her  young  people  for  doing  things.  She  might, 
without  committing  herself  to  any  political 
party,  organize  her  young  men  to  watch  all 
parties,  to  understand  their  workings  from  the 
kingdom  point  of  vantage  and  to  cooperate 
with  them  as  far  as  they  make  for  righteous- 
ness. The  Church  needs  to  organize  the  ethical 
life  of  village,  town,  and  city.  The  average 
town  is  torn  by  church  cliques.  The  Methodists 
are  a  little  more  ''fashionable"  than  the  Bap- 
tists, the  Presbyterians  struggle  with  the  Epis- 
copalians for  "social  preeminence,"  so  that  the 
"nice  people"  may  all  go  here  or  there.  All 
this  is  frankly  of  the  devil.  The  churches  must 
cooperate  for  a  common  social  purpose,  along 
their  various  lines  rendering  each  the  service 
for  which  their  organization  fits  them.  To  do 
this  they  must  have  some  common  basis  of 
union,  some  common  bond,  and  the  kingdom 
purpose,  the  social  regeneration  of  the  present 
suffering  communal  life,  may  furnish  that 
bond.  Let  the  different  denominations  unite 
to  get  the  town  government  or  the  country 
management  praised  for  welldoing  and  cen- 
sured for  evildoing  and  then  shown  how  to  do 


362  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

well.  What  do  the  five  or  six  churches  in  a 
township  know  of  the  county  jail?  "Well,  let 
them  find  out!  What  do  the  average  church 
members  know  of  the  real  temptations  to  boy- 
hood and  girlhood  in  their  midst?  Well,  let 
them  find  out !  The  whole  school  question  is  a 
pressing  one.  The  wholesome  separation  of 
Church  and  State  does  not  relieve  a  really  min- 
istering church  from  trying  to  serve,  and 
supply  the  religious  and  moral  training  the 
state  actually  asks  us  to  do,  by  relieving  us  of 
all  taxation  on  church  property.  Why  are  we 
not  doing  far  more  of  it?  Nor  should  we  leave 
our  brethren  in  the  Roman  communion  out  of 
our  councils.  They  need  us  and  we  need  them. 
We  differ  very  widely  in  what  we  think  makes 
a  church,  but  we  agree  in  believing  that  Jesus 
sent  us  to  establish  a  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
And  many  godly  priests  would  gladly  cooperate 
in  saving  boys  and  girls  from  a  material  and 
irreligious  life.  Guilds,  young  people's  associ- 
ations, men's  clubs,  women's  societies  are  or- 
ganized to  do  something  not  for  themselves  or 
even  for  their  church,  but  for  the  community. 
The  wants  of  the  community  are  manifold.  It 
may  be  only  tree-planting  and  keeping  the  vil- 
lage street  attractive,  but  if  it  is  done  for  the 
love  of  God  and  to  show  forth  the  beauty  of 
his  holiness,  it  is  religious  work. 

Education  of  a  special  kind  can  still  be  the 


SUMMARY  363 

service  of  the  churches.  Why  should  not  all 
the  churches  combine  to  organize  the  evening 
life  of  the  community,  and  have  lectures,  con- 
certs, classes,  inspiring  social  addresses  from 
actual  workers  from  church  to  church,  not  in 
the  higgledy-piggledy  confused  competition  of 
ordinary  usage,  but  planned  and  ordered,  and 
with  such  united  force  behind  that  success  was 
assured  from  the  start.  To  do  it  needs  the 
"social  mind,"  the  power  to  forget  self,  and 
little  jealousies,  and  local  quarrels,  and  private 
feuds,  and  personal  ambitions.  But  an  en- 
thusiasm for  God's  kingdom  can  overcome  all 
these  obstacles  if  two  or  three  are  actually 
united  in  Christ's  name  to  try. 

The  churches  must  learn  not  to  be  afraid  of 
hearing  from  all  earnest  men.  No  church  com- 
mits itself  to  single  tax  by  getting  some  repre- 
sentative single-tax  leader  to  speak  his  message 
if  he  does  it  lovingly.  No  church  commits  her- 
self to  Christian  socialism  or  to  socialism  by 
getting  a  representative  to  explain  the  situa- 
tion. Labor  unions  should  be  heard;  manu- 
facturers have  their  side  of  the  case;  let  them 
be  heard.  We  need  to  know  all  the  forces  that 
make  up  our  complex  life.  Partisan  spirit 
should  not  stop  us  from  becoming  intelligent 
by  hearing  what  others  think. 

Why  should  not  all  the  churches  in  a  par- 
ticular district  come  together  and  ask,  "What 


364  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

should  be  our  next  step?"  "What  can  we 
do  for  God's  kingdom  here  and  now?"  One  of 
the  dreadful  concessions  we  have  made  to  the 
competitive  social  order  is  that  churches  com- 
pete with  one  another  and  even  drive  one  an- 
other out.  All  this  socially  minded  churches 
will  reverse.  Weak  churches  will  be  aided  if 
they  are  needed,  and  proper  provision  made  to 
get  rid  of  weak  churches  without  hardship  or 
injustice  if  they  are  not  needed.  It  is  not  alone 
in  the  city  that  a  federation  of  churches  is 
needed  to  do  God's  work. 

Such  church  unions  must  struggle  against 
communal  bigotry.  There  are  shocking  narrow- 
nesses in  our  common  Protestantism.  We  do 
not  really  believe  that  a  man  can  be  saved  only 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  or  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  but  we  still  often 
act  as  though  we  believed  it.  Our  loyalty  to 
denomination  is  an  asset,  but  we  are  most  loyal 
to  our  denomination  when  we  and  it  are  most 
loyal  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Master. 
The  lines  that  divide  us  are  largely  of  tempera- 
ment, of  history,  of  honest  conviction  about  ef- 
ficiency and  order.  Such  opinions  the  socially 
minded  church  must  hold  with  loving  regard 
for  all  differing  honest  opinions. 

And  nothing  will  so  soon  break  down  these 
narrownesses  as  common  work  and  union  with 
other  brethren  in  the  communal  life.  The 


SUMMARY  365 

bond  of  common  toil  is  the  strongest  and  sweet- 
est bond.  The  churches  of  county,  town,  and 
city  should  organize  for  cooperative  instead  of 
competitive  pastoral  visitation.  In  that  way 
the  work  would  really  be  done,  and  the  Church 
would  actually  touch  again  all  lives  that  really 
wanted  it. 

Moreover,  the  churches  must  learn  that  all 
questions  are  ultimately  religious.  It  is  not 
religiously  indifferent  how  men  are  taxed.  An 
unjust  tax  is  robbery.  It  is  not  a  religiously 
indifferent  question  who  shall  vote.  It  is  ulti- 
mately a  gross  wrong  to  the  community  to  ex- 
clude from  it  those  who  should  vote  with  it,  or 
to  thrust  upon  it  those  who  should  not  have  a 
voice.  All  political  machinery  is  ultimately 
religiously  important,  as  giving  the  freedom  to 
human  life  it  needs  for  divine  expression. 
There  is  no  secular  life  for  the  Christian  man. 
All  things  are  ours,  and  all  things  are  sacred. 
So  far  as  the  Church  really  breathes  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  and  reflects  the  sacrifice  of  his  life 
and  love,  it  claims  all  life  to  make  God  known 
as  we  have  seen  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ 
our  Elder  Brother. 

We  all  need  God,  and  we  need  him  in  all  life. 
Business  and  pleasure,  joy  and  sorrow,  failure 
and  success  bring  home  to  our  hearts  the  need 
of  God.  But  we  need  him  in  different  ways  and 
we  see  him  differently.  All  life  must  at  last 


366  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

reflect  God.  The  Church  is  on  earth  to  help 
make  him  visible,  to  reveal  God.  Are  we  doing 
it?  We  call  ourselves  Trinitarians.  Where  is 
the  great  strength  of  that  thought?  It  lies  in 
the  social  character  of  God,  in  the  infinite 
strength  and  variety  of  his  nature.  We  cannot 
any  more  think  of  God  as  lonely  power.  He 
is  our  Father.  We  cannot  think  of  God  as 
simply  King  and  Creator.  He  is  our  Elder 
Brother,  in  Jesus  Christ.  We  cannot  think 
of  God  as  far  away.  He  is  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
is  now  moving  on  men's  hearts  and  minds  to 
forward  the  great  social  redemption  of  God's 
beautiful  world. 

To  this  work  the  socially  minded  ministry  in 
pew  and  pulpit  is  called,  namely,  to  reveal  God. 
The  cry  is  going  up  from  many  hearts,  ' '  Show 
us  the  Father!"  There  are  weary  and  rebel- 
lious workingmen  who  are  being  taught  day  in 
and  day  out  that  there  is  no  God,  that  the 
churches  are  fooling  them,  that  the  ministry  is 
a  selfish,  money-making,  cowardly  class  insti- 
tution, and  that  the  only  way  out  is  to  over- 
throw all  religion  and  abandon  all  churches. 
How  shall  we  meet  this  attack?  Shall  we  scorn 
the  cry,  and  make  no  response  to  the  complaint? 
If  we  do  we  are  lost.  God  will  raise  up  other 
and  more  religious  forces  to  represent  him. 
Let  us  find  out  how  far  we  have  given  excuse 
for  the  attack  by  misrepresentations  of  God. 


SUMMARY  367 

Let  us  learn  to  show  him  forth  as  we  have  seen 
him  giving  his  life  for  the  brethren. 

The  workingman  that  sees  the  Church  fling- 
ing her  arms  about  his  children,  and  guarding 
his  home,  will  not  think  meanly  of  the  God  that 
Church  proclaims.  The  business  man  who  sees 
the  Church  stand  steadily  for  the  purity  and 
peace  of  the  communal  life  will  listen  to  her 
message  of  social  justice  and  brotherly  co- 
operation. 

Never  had  the  cause  of  religion  a  more  open 
door  to  the  hearts  of  men  than  the  present  time 
of  heart-searching.  We  are  living  in  the  midst 
of  a  great  religious  revival  of  as  much  sig- 
nificance for  the  world's  life  as  the  Eeformation 
or  the  Evangelical  Eevival.  It  is  for  us  to 
enter  the  open  door. 

And,  lastly,  the  socially  minded  Church  must 
be  missionary.  The  souls  in  Eussia,  China, 
Persia,  Japan,  Korea  are  as  much  our  brothers 
and  sisters  as  those  who  talk  our  tongue  and 
have  our  color.  Our  machinery  civilization  is 
taking  away  their  temples  and  their  worship. 
Shall  we  leave  them  to  materialism  and  godless- 
ness?  Our  vices  and  our  rum  are  often  taking 
away  character  and  morals,  our  opium  de- 
bauching and  destroying  soul  and  body.  Shall 
we  do  nothing  for  them  to  redeem  and  restore  ? 
Our  competitive  social  order  is  in  danger  of 
dripping  with  the  blood  of  dear  little  tender 


368  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Japanese  children ;  mere  babes  are  making  the 
things  we  buy.  Shall  we  do  nothing  to  show 
that  we  are  rising  ourselves  in  horror  over 
child-slaughter  and  the  degradation  of  indus- 
trial womanhood?  Never  before  was  mission- 
ary zeal  so  needed.  Never  before  had  the 
Church  so  great  and  so  inspiring  a  message. 
God's  kingdom  is  to  be  the  kingdom  of  the  whole 
earth,  and  the  final  brotherhood  is  to  unite  all 
nations.  Social  proposals  have  all  ultimately 
the  final  significance  for  the  Christian  heart. 
Will  they  or  will  they  not  give  us  a  nation  that 
reveals  God  as  he  has  never  before  been  re- 
vealed in  the  social  incarnation  of  the  life  of 
love? 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

SELECTED  BIBLIOGBAPHY 

THE  student  of  social  thinking  will  find  an 
increasing  multitude  of  books  upon  all  phases 
of  the  subject.  The  following  bibliography 
takes  up  the  topics  in  the  order  in  which  they 
have  been  dealt  with  in  this  book.  Nor  is  it 
possible  to  do  more  than  select  a  few  of  the 
books  which  will  give  an  introduction  to  these 
topics.  Only  such  books  as  are  accessible  in 
English  are  referred  to,  as  the  literature  in 
German,  French,  and  Italian,  as  well  as  in  less 
read  tongues,  is  now  so  large  that  even  selected 
references  would  have  unduly  burdened  these 
pages.  In  most  cases  where  the  date  of  publi- 
cation is  given  it  is  the  date  of  the  copy  used 
by  the  writer,  and  later  editions  may  exist. 

It  is  important  at  the  outset  to  become  famil- 
iar with  the  new  and  inspiring  literature  that 
deals  with  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
volumes  of  Hastings 's  ''Dictionary  of  Christ 
and  the  Gospels"  (2  vols.,  1906,  1908)  are  care- 
ful but  conventional  and  traditional  in  treat- 
ment. Seeley's  "Ecce  Homo,"  although  now 
uncritical,  is  still  inspiring  and  useful.  Excel- 
lent as  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  Jesus  * 

369 


370  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

style  and  message  is  Dalman's  "The  Words  of 
Jesus"  (Edinburgh,  1902),  which  is  a  transla- 
tion of  the  first  part  of  his  great  German  work. 
Highly  useful  is  also  Wendt's  "The  Teachings 
of  Jesus"  (2  vols.,  Edinburgh,  1892),  and  in  a 
less  thoroughgoing  way  A.  B.  Bruce 's  "The 
Kingdom  of  God. ' '  Along  these  lines  but  with- 
out the  critical  apparatus  is  Peabody's  "Jesus 
Christ  and  the  Social  Question,"  and  more 
fully  dealing  with  the  sources  Latham's  "Pastor 
Pastorum"  (1890)  and  Shailer  Ma  thews 's 
"The  Social  Teaching  of  Jesus"  (1897).  See 
also  "The  Messages  of  the  Synoptics,"  by  the 
writer  (1901)  and  Bousset's  "Jesus."  The 
matter  is  treated  most  excellently  in  the  form 
of  sermons  by  Bishop  C.  Gore  in  "The  Social 
Doctrine  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount."  The 
Fabian  Society  also  prints  a  little  pamphlet  by 
T.  Clifford,  "Socialism  and  the  Teachings  of 
Jesus, ' '  with  an  appended  bibliography  of  some 
value.  From  the  same  standpoint  are  West- 
cott's  admirable  "The  Incarnation,  a  Kevela- 
tion  of  Human  Duties,"  and  his  "Social 
Aspects  of  Christianity."  Compare  also 
Briggs's  "Ethical  Teachings  of  Jesus."  Of 
course,  the  Lives  of  Jesus  by  Andrews,  Eders- 
heim,  Weiss,  etc.,  can  all  be  usefully  employed. 
The  social  teachings  of  Paul  have  been 
strangely  neglected.  He  has  been  treated  too 
exclusively  as  a  theologian,  although  his  the- 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  371 

ology  was  neither  central  nor  his  strongest 
point.  W.  M.  Ramsay's  "  Saint  Paul  the  Trav- 
eler and  Roman  Citizen"  (1896)  is  useful  as 
giving  the  setting  of  Paul's  thought,  and  also 
the  sections  of  McGiffert's  " Apostolic  Age" 
that  deal  with  Paul.  Pfleiderer's  "Paulinism" 
(Eng.  tr.,  1877)  deals  too  much  with  Paul  from 
the  point  of  view  of  Hellenistic  philosophy  and 
forgets  that  Paul  stood  on  the  Old  Testament 
and  was  a  Jew.  Weizsacker's  "The  Apostolic 
Age"  (Eng.  tr.,  1895)  gives  materials  for  judg- 
ment, and  Eenan's  "Paul"  is  a  most  artistic 
creation.  Extensive,  however,  as  the  literature 
is,  the  ethics  of  Paul  and  his  social  teachings 
must  be  largely  gathered  afresh  from  his  letters. 
There  is  literature  of  great  value  in  German, 
but  the  English  material  is  defective. 

The  student  who  is  looking  for  a  view  of  the 
world  may  begin  with  the  work  of  Hume  and 
Kant,  and  will  find  Lotze's  "  Microcosmus " 
(Eng.  tr.,  2  vols.,  1885)  a  most  valuable  intro- 
duction to  all  the  questions.  There  are  many 
good  psychologies  now,  and  any  one,  like 
Hoff ding's  or  that  of  William  James,  will  sup- 
ply the  essential  psychological  basis  for  modern 
social  thinking,  but  especially  useful  is  J.  M. 
Baldwin 's  ' '  Social  Interpretation  in  Mental  De- 
velopment," and  "Mental  Development  of  the 
Child  and  the  Race."  Le  Bon's  work  on  "The 
Crowd"  and  Miinsterberg's  "Psychology" 


372  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

are  also  excellent.  The  background  for  the 
philosophy  of  this  treatment  may  be  found 
in  Maurice's  " History  of  Moral  and  Meta- 
physical Philosophy"  (2  vols.,  1886),  Wundt's 
''Ethics,"  Paulsen's  "Ethics,"  and  the  ethical 
works  of  Kant  (Eng.  tr.  by  Abbott).  Un- 
fortunately, Fechner's  works  are  not  in  Eng- 
lish, but  have  profoundly  influenced  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  writer.  For  histories  of 
philosophy  there  is  now  no  lack.  Weber's 
"History  of  Philosophy"  (Eng.  tr.,  1903)  is 
simply  invaluable.  The  last  German  edition  of 
Ueberweg  is  the  richest  history  in  bibliography. 
The  serious  student  of  social  thinking  needs 
careful  training  in  the  theory  of  knowledge 
(epistemology)  and  in  psychological  method, 
but  the  ways  of  approach  are  too  various  to 
try  to  deal  with  the  literature  here.  Anyone 
having  to  do  critically  with  philosophical  social- 
ism must  be  familiar  at  first  hand  with  Kant, 
Fichte,  Hegel,  Feuerbach,  and  Karl  Marx, 
whereas  English  empiric  philosophy  demands 
a  first-hand  acquaintance  with  Locke,  Adam 
Smith,  Darwin,  Spencer,  and  above  all  with 
Hume. 

The  study  of  our  existing  social  order  in- 
volves some  knowledge  of  the  philosophy  of 
history  and  religion.  Here  again  the  method 
of  approach  is  very  various.  Admirable  as  an 
introduction  to  the  method  is  Morgan's  "An- 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  373 

cient  Society"  (1878).  When  European  history 
is  touched  Freeman's  ''General  Sketch  of 
European  History"  and  Buckle's  "Introduc- 
tion to  the  History  of  Civilization  in  England" 
are  still  classic  starting  points.  So  also  the 
work  of  Bagehot,  and  particularly  his  ' '  Physics 
anl  Politics. ' '  The  whole  field  of  anthropology 
is  one  for  specialists,  but  Tylor's  "Primitive 
Culture"  and  Frazer's  "Golden  Bough"  re- 
veal to  the  amateur  the  method  and  goal  of  the 
science  of  primitive  religion,  and  Andrew 
Lang's  "Myth,  Eitual,  and  Eeligion"  is  a  val- 
uable antidote  to  dogmatism  and  too  easy 
generalization.  To  these  must  be  added  Her- 
bert Spencer's  "Sociology"  and  the  first  edition 
of  his  "Social  Statics,"  although  Spencer's 
philosophy  is  almost  better  set  forth  by  John 
Fiske  than  by  himself,  in  the  * '  Outline  of  Cosmic 
Philosophy"  (2  vols.).  The  political  side  may 
be  studied  in  a  most  extensive  literature,  a  clue 
to  which  is  given  in  Dunning's  "History  of  Po- 
litical Theories"  (2  vols.,  1905,  1908).  To  the 
science  of  so-called  sociology  the  work  of  Gid- 
dings,  "The  Principles  of  Sociology,"  may  be 
used  as  an  introduction.  For  special  study  of 
American  society  Bryce's  new  edition  of  his 
"American  Commonwealth,"  with  certain 
faults,  has  highest  value.  But  the  serious  stu- 
dent will  take  up  McMaster's  "History"  or 
some  of  the  many  good  histories,  and  will  read 


374  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

them  in  the  light  of  the  " Federalist"  and  the 
original  documents.  J.  Allan  Smith's  "The 
Spirit  of  American  Government"  should  also 
be  read.  Fiske,  Wilson,  and  Burgess  all  deal 
with  the  political  unfolding  of  the  American 
Republic. 

The  social  thinker  who  is  not  a  trained 
specialist  in  political  economy  is  often  con- 
fused and  bewildered  by  the  great  variety  of 
books.  Probably  the  best  thing  is  to  begin  with 
Adam  Smith's  "Wealth  of  Nations"  (many 
editions,  and  annotated  by  Thorold  Eogers,  2 
vols.),  and  then  take  up  J.  E.  Cairnes's  "Lead- 
ing Principles  of  Political  Economy  Newly 
Expounded,"  or  his  "Character  and  Logical 
Method  in  Political  Economy."  He  might  then 
pass  to  John  A.  Hobson's  "Evolution  of  Mod- 
ern Capitalism"  (Contemporary  Science  Se- 
ries), which  is  rich  in  bibliography.  Admirable 
in  their  clearness  are  all  the  outlines  by 
Richard  T.  Ely,  "Introduction  to  Political 
Economy,"  "Principles  of  Economics";  and 
rich  in  bibliographic  reference  is  E.  R.  A. 
Seligman's  "Economics,"  as  are  also  highly 
useful  his  works  on  taxation.  "Political  Econ- 
omy," by  Walker,  is  a  fine  example  of  con- 
fusion and  scholasticism  in  this  field.  Ricardo's 
place  is  so  historically  important  that  his  theory 
of  rent  should  be  mastered  in  the  "Principles 
of  Political  Economy."  To  these  may  be 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  375 

added  John  B.  Common's  "Distribution  of 
Wealth,"  and  Clark's  volume  under  the  same 
title.  John  J.  Lalor's  "Cyclopedia  of  Political 
Science"  might  be  greatly  improved,  but  has 
useful  references.  The  two  academies,  the 
American  Academy  in  Philadelphia  and  the 
Academy  of  Political  Science  in  New  York  city, 
both  publish  important  material,  as  does  also 
the  American  Economic  Association. 

For  the  literature  of  religious  discontent  with 
all  existing  orders  the  student  turns  to  the 
books  that  deal  with  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
here  Maurice's  "Social  Morality"  and  "The 
Kingdom  of  Christ"  are  still  important.  The 
actual  relation  of  the  Church  to  social  improve- 
ment is  despondently  given  in  Charles  Booth's 
last  volume  of  "Summary  on  Religious  In- 
fluences ' '  in  his  invaluable  series  of  ' '  Life  and 
Labor  in  London,"  and  the  same  theme  is  dif- 
ferently dealt  with  in  Heath's  "The  Captive 
City  of  God. ' '  The  best  recent  book  along  this 
line  is  Walter  Eauschenbusch's  "Christianity 
and  the  Social  Crisis,"  and  Ruskin's  works, 
"Unto  this  Last"  and  "Munera  Pulveris," 
have  still  inspirational  value.  More  definite 
in  their  economic  theory  are  Charles  R.  Brown 
in  "The  Social  Message  of  the  Modern  Pulpit" 
and  R.  J.  Campbell  in  "Christianity  and  the 
Social  Order. ' '  The  biblical  material  is  treated 
of  by  Orello  Cone,  "The  Rich  and  Poor  in  the 


376  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

New  Testament,"  and  George  Adam  Smith, 
"Modern  Criticism  and  the  Preaching  of  the 
Old  Testament."  The  social  character  of  Old 
Testament  teaching  is  also  brought  out  by 
Driver  in  his  "Isaiah  and  His  Times."  "The 
Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity"  have  been 
dealt  with  by  Schmidt.  Utterly  uncritical  and 
often  misleading,  but  full  of  valuable  material, 
is  "Ward's  "Ancient  Lowly."  These  are  but  a 
few  leading  books,  but  the  literature  cited  in 
their  pages  will  open  up  still  farther  the  world 
of  their  thoughts. 

When  the  student  turns  to  definite  social  pro- 
posals it  is  well  to  go  at  once  to  the  authorita- 
tive sources.  Thus  to  find  out  what  Anarchy 
actually  teaches  take  up  Bakouine,  the  com- 
munist-anarchist. Benjamin  E.  Tucker  has 
translated  his  '  *  God  and  the  State ' '  ( 1883) .  Or 
for  philosophic  anarchy  the  works  of  Peter 
Kropotkin  on  "Coming  Anarchy,"  "Scientific 
Basis  of  Anarchy, ' '  and '  *  Mutual  Aid. ' '  Benja- 
min R.  Tucker's  own  writings  are  easily  ob- 
tained. Francis  D.  Tandy  has  also  given  a 
program  in  "Voluntary  Socialism,"  which  is 
anarchistic  in  purpose.  So  also  the  student  of 
the  single  tax  should  take  up  authoritative 
literature  like  Thomas  G.  Shearman's  "The 
Shortest  Road  to  the  Single  Tax,"  or  his  "Nat- 
ural Taxation";  nor  must  he  forget  Henry 
George's  own  work,  "Progress  and  Poverty." 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  377 

Excellent  and  most  clear  is  Louis  E.  Post's 
"The  Single  Tax,"  and  also  Leo  Tolstoy's  "A 
Great  Iniquity."  Wallace's  "Land  Nationali- 
zation" is  another  phase  of  this  subject.  The 
organs  of  the  single-tax  purpose  may  also  be 
consulted,  like  "The  Single  Tax  Review"  and 
"The  Public." 

On  democracy  as  such  see  J.  M.  Kelley,  "In- 
dustrial Democracy,"  where  the  ideal  is  an 
exceedingly  democratic  communalism.  Also 
Lecky's  "Democracy  and  Liberty,"  where 
democracy  is  ill-defined;  Rose's  "The  Rise  of 
Democracy,"  and  William  J.  Allan's  "Efficient 
Democracy. "  It  is  unfortunate  that  individual- 
ism, democracy,  communalism,  and  socialism 
are  so  seldom  examined  in  their  logic  and  inner 
spirit.  But  for  a  beginning  see  Ostrogorki's 
"Democracy  and  the  Organization  of  Political 
Parties,"  Mrs.  Bosanquet's  "The  Strength  of 
the  People,"  and  John  Stuart  Mill's  "Repre- 
sentative Government,"  which  is  thorough- 
going in  its  conception  of  democracy.  For  a 
philosophic  discussion  of  the  state  see 
Bluntschli's  "Theory  of  the  State"  (3d  ed., 
Eng.  tr.,  1901),  Mazzini's  "Thoughts  upon 
Democracy  in  Europe,"  and  "Democracy  and 
Reaction, "  by  Hobhouse  (1904). 

The  history  of  socialism  has  been  so  well 
written  recently  by  various  writers  that  Ely's 
services  are  in  danger  of  being  forgotten;  yet 


378  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

his  history  of  European  socialism  is  still  use- 
ful, although  superseded  by  Kirkup's  "History 
of  Socialism"  and  Morris  Hillquit's  "History 
of  Socialism  in  the  United  States. ' '  The  history 
of  Christian  socialism  in  England  has  been 
written  by  Kaufman,  and  W.  H.  Dawson  has 
dealt  with  "German  Socialism  and  La  Salle." 

Utopian  socialism  begins  with  the  "Republic*' 
of  Plato,  and  has  a  long  and  honorable  history 
through  More's  "Utopia"  down  to  Edward 
Bellamy  and  William  D.  Howells  in  "Looking 
Backward"  and  "A  Traveler  from  Altruria." 

To-day  the  foundation  of  nearly  all  schools 
of  socialism  is  to  be  sought  not  in  Eobert 
Owen  or  Louis  Blanc,  but  in  Karl  Marx,  whose 
work  on  "Capital"  (Eng.  tr.),  with  all  its  many 
defects,  remains  still  the  classic  socialist  text- 
book. Whether  as  believer  or  as  critic  the 
student  of  socialism  is  bound  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  Karl  Marx  at  first  hand.  A  help 
is  Aveling's  "Student's  Marx."  To  under- 
stand the  movement  the  work  of  Werner 
Sombart,  "Socialism  and  the  Social  Move- 
ment," or  Schaeffle's  "Quintessence  of  Social 
ism,"  will  be  found  clear.  Or  one  may  begin 
with  John  Spargo's  "The  Socialists,  What 
They  Are  and  What  They  Stand  For,"  which 
is  from  the  pen  of  a  convinced  socialist,  which 
Sombart  and  Schaeffle  are  not.  We  then  find  a 
most  extensive  literature  on  all  sides  of  the 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  379 

subject :  William  Liebknecht,  ' '  Socialism,  What 
It  Is  and  What  It  Seeks  to  Accomplish"; 
Hermann  Kutter,  "They  Must,  or  God  and  the 
Social  Democracy";  Achille  Loria,  "The  Eco- 
nomic Foundations  of  Society,"  which  is  a 
shallow  and  mechanical  interpretation  of  Marx ; 
E.  Vanderveldt,  "Collectivism  and  Industrial 
Evolution";  Morris  and  Bax  on  "Socialism,  Its 
Growth  and  Outcome";  E.  E.  A.  Seligman's 
"Economic  Interpretation  of  History,"  which 
is  an  exceedingly  just  appreciation  of  Marx's 
real  position;  Charles  H.  Vail  has  several  vol- 
umes, of  which  the  most  important  is,  perhaps, 
"Principles  of  Scientific  Socialism";  A.  W. 
Simons  on  "The  American  Farmer";  John 
Spargo's  books,  "The  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Chil- 
dren," and  especially  "The  Spiritual  Signifi- 
cance of  Modern  Socialism."  Critical  of 
socialism  are  Max  Hirsch's  "Democracy  vs. 
Socialism,"  and  James  Edward  le  KossignoPs 
"Orthodox  Socialism,  a  Criticism."  Very 
clever  and  illuminating  is  Veblen's  "The 
Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class."  Frederick 
Engels's  "Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific," 
is  still  classic,  and  is  much  read  by  socialists.  So 
also  is  August  BebePs  "Woman  under  Social- 
ism." Very  interesting  for  the  socialist  point 
of  view  is  Isador  Ladoff's  "Pauperism  and  the 
Abolition  of  Poverty."  Along  with  BebePs 
work  on  woman  may  be  read  Engels's  volumes 


380  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

on  "The  Origin  of  the  Family"  and  "Private 
Property  and  the  State."  In  England  Robert 
Blatchford's  "Merrie  England"  and  "Britain 
for  the  British"  have  had  enormous  sale. 
His  attack  on  Christianity  is  shallow  and 
ill-tempered,  but  should  be  read  by  Christian 
teachers  who  want  to  know  the  cheaper  type 
of  objections  to  religion.  The  book  is  called 
"God  and  My  Neighbor."  Of  all  the  many 
socialist  publications  probably  either  the  "In- 
ternational Socialist  Review"  (Chicago)  or  the 
"English  Review"  would  be  the  most  useful 
journal  for  an  outsider  wishing  to  know  the 
truth. 

Christian  socialism  has  three  separate  types. 
The  English  type  is  very  sentimental  and  some- 
what uninstructed,  as  in  Fremantle's  "Chris- 
tian Ordinances  and  Social  Progress"  or  the 
works  of  Maurice  already  mentioned.  But 
Kingsley's  "Alton  Locke"  and  Carlyle's  thun- 
derings  still  have  much  value.  See  Stubbs's 
"Charles  Kingsley  and  the  Christian  Social 
Movement,"  or  A.  E.  Woodworth's  "Christian 
Socialism  in  England."  In  the  United  States 
the  so-called  Christian  Socialist  Fellowship  ac- 
cepts the  Marxian  party  platform,  but  united 
with  it  the  thought  that  thus  Jesus 's  will  is  to 
be  carried  out.  See  Rufus  W.  Weeks 's  "What 
the  Christian  Socialists  Stand  For."  There  is 
also  much  literature  that  reflects  socialist  in- 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  381 

spiration  without  any  party  commitment,  as  in 
H.  C.  King's  " Theology  and  the  Social  Con- 
science," or  Marshall  Lang's  "The  Church  and 
Its  Social  Mission,"  and  Shailer  Mathews's 
"The  Church  and  the  Changing  Order."  The 
relation  of  Christian  socialism  to  Owen  is  dis- 
cussed by  E.  E.  A.  Seligman  in  an  article  of 
that  title  which  has  been  reprinted. 

The  difference  between  democratic  and  state 
socialism  is  brought  out  by  W.  H.  Dawson  in 
his  "Bismarck  and  State  Socialism. " 

Fabian  socialism  has  a  literature  of  its  own. 
The  Fabian  Society  of  London  issues  an 
abundant  literature,  an  introduction  to  which 
may  be  had  in  Sidney  Webb's  "Fabian  Es- 
says," or  his  "Socialism  in  England,"  or  "The 
London  Program."  The  most  familiar  Fabian 
writer  is  the  novelist  H.  Gr.  Wells,  whose  "Old 
Worlds  for  New"  presents  the  Fabian  attitude 
of  mind,  and  Bernard  Shaw  presents  in  "Mu- 
nicipal Trading"  a  fair  account  of  the  progress 
of  the  party.  The  "Social  Science  Series"  is 
an  almost  invaluable  series  of  publications 
along  social  lines  (imported  by  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons),  and  among  them  many  of  the 
books  are  by  Fabian  socialists. 

The  literature  of  social  amelioration  is  too 
extensive  to  do  more  than  point  out  a  few 
books  of  especial  significance.  The  land  ques- 
tion needs  particular  treatment,  and  a  good 


382  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

introduction  is  Fustel  de  Coulanges's  "Origin 
of  Property  in  Land"  and  Stubbs's  "The  Land 
and  the  Laborers" ;  also  from  the  English  point 
of  view  M.  L.  Balbeck's  "Historical  Sketch  of 
the  Distribution  of  Land  in  England,"  Bolton 
Hall's  "Three  Acres  and  Liberty,"  and  "A 
Little  Land  and  a  Living"  are  practical. 

The  work  of  charity  has  a  literature  all  to 
itself.  The  "Survey"  is  one  of  the  most  valua- 
ble sources  for  information,  and  will  keep  the 
socially  minded  man  or  woman  posted  in  regard 
to  recent  thought.  ' '  The  Hull  House  Maps  and 
Papers"  are  also  valuable  as  introductory  to 
the  questions  raised.  Practical  and  suggestive 
are  Edward  T.  Devine's  "The  Practice  of 
Charity"  and  "Principles  of  Belief."  "Pov- 
erty," by  Bobert  Hunter,  and  General  Booth's 
"In  Darkest  England  and  the  Way  Out,"  paint 
dark  pictures  of  city  poverty.  Mrs.  Josephine 
S.  Lowell  describes  "Public  Belief  and  Private 
Charity"  without  going  very  deeply  into  causes. 
Sir  G.  Nichols  has  written  a  useful  "History  of 
the  English  Poor  Laws. ' '  Classic  is  B.  S.  Bown- 
tree's  "Poverty:  A  Study  of  Town  Life." 

The  city  has  also  almost  its  own  literature, 
like  Hugo's  "Municipal  Ownership  in  Great 
Britain"  and  the  work  of  Samuel  Loomis  on 
"Modern  Cities."  Still  very  valuable  and  sug- 
gestive is  Frank  Parsons 's  "The  City  for  the 
People."  Frederic  C.  Howe  has  a  hopeful 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  383 

view  of  "The  City,  the  Hope  of  Democracy." 
Richard  T.  Ely  has  a  small  volume  of  admirable 
spirit  on  "The  Modern  City,"  and  Josiah 
Strong  is  very  interesting  in  his  recent  book  on 
"The  Twentieth  Century  City."  The  special 
city  problems  must  be  dealt  with  in  the  more 
technical  literature,  which  is,  happily,  increas- 
ing fast. 

The  temperance  question  cannot  be  properly 
handled  in  a  few  references.  The  temperance 
society  has  alone  an  enormous  literature.  Prob- 
ably Eowntree  and  Sherwell  in  "The  Tem- 
perance Problem"  introduce  the  question  fairly, 
although  their  attitude  is,  of  course,  challenged. 
Raymond  Calkins  tries  to  point  out ' '  Substitutes 
for  the  Saloon."  The  New  York  Committee 
of  Fifteen  has  several  reports.  The  Prohi- 
bition literature  is  large  and  exceedingly  effect- 
ive. The  prohibition  by  local  option  and  the 
question  of  national  prohibition  have  each  large 
literatures. 

The  whole  question  of  the  trusts  is  vital,  and 
George  L.  Bohn  has  an  admirable  discussion, 
' '  Facts  about  the  Trusts  and  the  Tariff. ' '  John 
Moody 's  "Truth  about  the  Trusts"  has  rich 
material.  Frank  Parsons 's  "The  Telegraph 
Monopoly"  is  admirable,  and  a  complete  legal 
survey  is  given  in  E.  Parmelee  Prentice's 
"Federal  Power  over  Carriers  and  Corpora- 
tions." Two  other  books  may  be  cited:  J.  W. 


384  SOCIAL  SOLUTIONS 

Jenks's  "The  Trust  Problem"  and  W.  Z.  Eip- 

ley  on  "Trusts,  Pools,  and  Corporations." 

Education  has  also  its  own  literature.  The 
best  introduction  to  the  modern  treatment  of 
it  may  be  found  in  the  Eeports  of  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education,  and  in 
Bliss's  "Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reform."  Ed- 
win G.  Dexter  has  an  admirable  summary  of 
the  subject  with  many  references. 

The  last  edition  of  Bliss's  "Encyclopedia"  is 
most  admirable,  and  should  be  owned  by  every- 
one who  is  vitally  interested  and  can  afford  the 
very  moderate  price  for  such  exceedingly  care- 
ful work. 


INDEX 


Addams,  Miss  Jane,  298 
Almsgiving,  271-280 
Altgeld,  Governor,  145 
Amelioration,  social,  245 
America,    and    individualism, 

137 
Amusements,  Puritan  attitude 

toward,  327 
Anarchy,   social  proposals  of, 

143;    atomistic,    143;    com- 
munistic, 149 

Apocalyptic  hopes,  Jewish,  16 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  238 
Architecture    and    education, 

308 

Aristocracy,  failure  of,  104 
Aristotle,  and  benefactor,  107 
Assurance,    and    finality,    33; 

gradations    in,    34;    highest 

type,  34 
Athanasius,    and    monastery, 

111 

Augustine,  185 
Austrian  socialism,  239 
Autonomy,  moral,  of  sons,  82 


Bakouine,  Michael,  149 
Bellamy,  "Looking  Back- 
ward," 84 

Berger,   Victor,   and  revision- 
ism, 243 


Bernstein,  and  revision,  241 
Bismarck,    aristocratic   pater- 
nalism   of,    103;   and    state 
socialism,  222 
Bourgeoisie,  rise  of,  209 
Buddhism,  and  caste,  100;  and 
individual  extrication,  110 


C 

Calvin,  and  democracy,  165 
Calvinism,  services  to  democ- 
racy, 171 ;  its  political  ideal, 
187 

Capitalism,  definitions  of,  201 
Carpenter,  Edward,  168 
Caste,  and  industrial  commer- 
cialism, 59 

Catholic  socialism,  236 
Catholicism,  Roman,  attitude 

of,  170 

Causality,  law  of,  212 
Certainty,     and    finality,     33; 

basis  of,  35 

Charity  organization,  269 
Chartist  movement,  193 
Children,  the  possessing  class 

and  their,  49 
Children's  courts,  265 
Church,  Christian,   and  social 
program,  73;  Roman  Cath- 
olic conceptions  of,  73;  Re- 
former's definitions  of,   73; 
and  political  program,   78; 


385 


386 


INDEX 


and  her  functions,  113;  its 
public  services,  342;  and 
party  struggle,  344;  and  or- 
ganized ethical  life,  361; 
separation  from  State,  362; 
missionary  character  of,  367 

City,  place  and  importance  in 
social  hope,  335-341 

Class-conscious  struggle,  214 

Coercion,  17;  loveless,  144 

Color,  the  group,  217 

Commercial  struggle,  goal  of,71 

Commune,  Paris,  215 

Communism,  primitive,  and 
Jesus,  71 

Competition,  definitions  of,  64, 
161;  Walker's  definition  of, 
122 

Congregationalism,  141 

Constantino,  and  the  Church, 
131,  182;  and  compromise 
with  Christianity,  185 

Constitution,  the,  and  democ- 
racy, 165 

Contemplative  life,  the,  168 

Cooperation,  318,  321 

Cosmopolitanism,  Jewish,  Ro- 
man, 98 

Crisis,  the  industrial,  201 

Cyprian,  and  Old  Catholic 
Church,  184 


D 

Darwin,  Charles,  158 

Democracy,  and  self-govern- 
ment, 350;  and  its  machin- 
ery, 356;  and  plutocracy,  357 

Democrat,  the  Christian,  172 


Disestablishment  in  France, 
232 

Divorce,  and  the  Roman  com- 
munion, 288,  324 

Dogmatism,  definition  of,  34 

Dream,  the  kingdom,  84;  and 
material  side,  92;  and  de- 
mocracy, 101 

Dress,  289 

Dualism,  Oriental,  185 

E 

Economic  interpretation  of  his- 
tory, 206 

Education,  295,  297;  unorgan- 
ized, 305 

Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII,  235 
Encyclopedists,  137,  139 
England,   and   land   question, 
127;  land  monopoly  in,  159 
Episcopacy,  141 
Equality,  economic,  87 
Evangelicalism,  American,  142 
Exclusiveness,  danger  of,  107 
Exploitation,  67;  and  democ- 
racy, 109 

F 

Family,  definition  of,  64;  emu- 
lation in,  67;  male,  female, 
child  group,  177;  its  con- 
servation, 322 

Feudalism,  its  wars,  43;  beauty 
of,  56;  and  the  family,  58; 
and  the  land,  58;  and  its 
charm,  134;  and  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  187 

Feuerbach,  206. 


INDEX 


387 


Fiske,  John,  and  influence  of 

childhood,  166 
Forestalling,  52 
France,  and  individualism,  138 
Free  trade,  121 


G 

Gambling,  essence  of,  53;  its 
suppression,  331 

Games,  the  Greek,  161;  the 
Roman,  161 

George,  Henry,  155 

Germany,  and  the  single  tax, 
160;  state  socialism  of,  224; 
old-age  pensions,  225 

Gladstone,  135 

Goethe,  and  individualism,  147 

Golden  Rule,  the,  120 

Government,PauTs  attitude  to, 
23;  efficiency  of,  102;  self- 
government  and  risks,  104 

Group,  its  claim,  114;  and  the 
individual,  126;  religion  and 
the,  180 

H 

History,  its  continuity,  252 
Home,  the  passing  of  the,  283 
Hospitals,  273 


Idealism,  hampered  by,  37; 
United  States  and,  37 

Individualism  and  the  king- 
dom, 97 

Individualism  of  Jesus,  99 

Industrial  training,  279 


Industrial  womanhood,  and  its 

protection,  316 
Industrialism,    the    new,    42; 

commercial,  42;  competitive, 

45 

Inhibition,  morality  and,  86 
Intellectualism,  Hellenistic,  185 
Interest,  meaning  of,  54 


Jerusalem,  its  ruin,  248 

Jesus,  social  outlook  of,  13;  his 
view  of  the  world,  20;  and 
social  theory,  26;  and  politi- 
cal program,  62;  and  wealth, 
71 

Joseph,  13-14 

Judaism,  family  and  tribal,  110 

K 

Ketteler,  on  property,  234 

Kingdom,  constitution  of,  15; 
the  Messianic,  180;  parables 
of,  248 

Kingdom  of  God,  Jesus's  con- 
ception of,  14 

Kingsley,  Charles,  131;  and 
Chartism,  193 

Knowledge,  relative,  32;  rela- 
tion to  experience,  32;  social 
character  of,  35 

Kropotkin,  Prince  Peter,  150, 
153 


Labor,    organized,    and    new 

morality,  86 
Laissez  faire,  133,  139,  144 


388 


INDEX 


Land  speculation,  312 
Lollard  movement,  the,  128 
London  and  ground  rents,  293 

M 

Manchester  school,  the,  127 
Marx,  Karl,  150;  elements  of 

his  system,  198 
Mastery,  its  corruption,  94 
Maurice,    Frederick    Denison, 

192 
Mediaeval  Church,  its  ministry, 

76 

Memories,  inherited,  30 
Meyer,  Professor  Rudolf,  236 
Mind,  the  social,  85 
Ministry,  the  Christian,  255 
Mir,  Russian,  149 
Money,  definition  of,  46;  value 

of,  54;  symbolic  character, 

55;  tainted  money,  116 
Monogamy,  Jesus  and,  18,  177 
Morality,  double  standardof ,  69 
Moravians,  and  John  Wesley, 

148 
Municipal  trading,  197 


N 
Napoleon,  and  the  Revolution, 

166 

Nationalism,  Jewish,  18 
Nomadism,  252 

O 

Opportunity,  productive,  47 
Organized     labor,     313;     and 
strikes,  203 


Owen,  Robert,  131 ;  and  social- 
ism, 191 

P 

Panaceas,  259 

Parasitism,  55 

Paternalism,  aristocratic,  100 

Paul,  his  social  message,  22; 
contrast  with  Jesus,  22; 
charge  against  him,  23;  and 
social  theory,  26;  and  relativ- 
ism, 37;  the  Church  as 
founded  by,  111 

Pharisaism,  261 

Physiocrats,  the  French,  139; 
and  socialism,  191 

Pobiedonostzeff,  80 

Political  economy,  classic,  121 

Political  programs,  their  sig- 
nificance, 79 

Poor,  deserving  and  undeserv- 
ing, 268 

Post,  Louis,  156 

Premillenarians,  246 

Presbyterianism,  141 

Prisons,  and  their  reform,  306 

Privilege,  dangers  of,  106 

Progress,  Roman  progress  and 
its  divisions,  40 

Proletariat,  the,  and  its  char- 
acter, 103 

Profits,  definitions  of,  45;  as 
stimulus,  68 

Proudhon,  151 

Puritanism,  129 

Purpose,  and  life,  31 

Q 
Quesnay,  Francois,  139 


INDEX 


389 


R 

Railroads,  German,  222 
Rauschenbusch,  Professor,  183 
Reformation,   and  individual- 
ism, 112;  definition  of,  186 
Rent,  meaning  of,  54;  Marxian 

definition  of,  204 
Revelation  of  God,  366 
Revolution,  French,  249;  Pro- 
fessor Sloane  on,  301 
Roman  empire,  its  social  his- 
tory, 43 

Romance,  and  the  drama,  303 
Rousseau,  137 


S 

Sabbath  day,  285 

Sabbath  school,  300 

Sacramental  mysteries,  and 
Christianity,  111 

Salvation,  individual,  118 

Salvation  Army,  275 

Scholasticism,  itsweakness,121 

Schopenhauer,  33 

Self,  the  larger,  30 

Seligman,  Edward  A.,  214 

Servant  question,  the,  50 

Service,  and  life,  89 

Settlement,  300;  social,  and 
dogmatic  religion,  345 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  130 

Single  tax,  individualism  of, 
155;  ethics  of,  156;  eco- 
nomics of,  157;  moral  appeal 
of,  162;  Christian  criticism 
of,  163 

Slavery,  its  overcoming,  65; 
its  abolition,  80;  curse  of,  105 


Smith,  Adam,  139 

Social  emphasis,  the,  176 

Social  order,  and  its  estimate, 
39;  its  organizing  spirit,  41; 
its  genesis,  57 

Socialism,  rise  of,  190;  defini- 
tion of,  190;  and  commun- 
ism, 190;  English  Christian, 
192;  Fabian,  194-196;  Marx- 
ian, 198;  state,  222;  state, 
undemocratic  character,  226; 
state,  and  militarism,  238 

Sociology,  its  character,  123; 
and  science,  124 

Spencer,  Herbert,  144;  "Edu- 
cation," 146 

Stoicism,  its  message,  97 

Suffrage,  woman's,  266,  351; 
and  its  limitations,  352;  and 
the  negro,  353 

Surplus  value,  199 

Syndicalism,  244 


Temperance,  327 
Temple  tax,  Jesus  and,  17 
Thrift,  goal  of,  49 
Tradition,  transmission  of,  178 
Tribune,  New  York,  215 
Trowbridge,    Oliver    R.,    and 

socialism,  164 
Tucker,  Benjamin  R.,  143 


Value,  exchange,  and  relative 

character,  52 
Voltaire,  137 


INDEX 


W 

Wages,  51 

Waldensian  Church,  76 

War,  relation  to  industrialism, 

44;   exclusion    of,    90;   and 

religion,  181 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  116 
Wealth,  what  it  is,  47;  Marxian 

definition  of,  200 


Weber,  Professor  Max,  story  of 
capitalism,  187 

Wesley,  John,  and  the  Church, 
74,  113;  his  democracy,  169 

Whig  party,  the,  129 

Whitman,  Walt,  and  democ- 
racy, 165 

Wiclif,  128 

World,  the  outside,  29 


A     000  981  752     9 


